As Clear As Mud
by Oasis Blackmore
Summary: Hidden feelings aren't ever something that make life clear. Only when they are admitted does true, muddy clarity appear. Join our favorite Harry Potter characters in a not so adventurey adventure that will change their lives. Disregards HPB.
1. The Arrangement

**An Author's Note to Readers and Hopefully Reviewers: 'Kay people, this is the drill: Read, laugh, or cry, whatever, and then review! I will not take no reviews for an answer. TEN HUT! **

**Ha ha ha. Kidding, though I do hope you all find it in your hearts to review this pitiful attempt at a fluffy, happy story. Thankee for clicking up on it. I hope you all like it.**

**As Clear as Mud**

**1**

You Haven't Forgotten Our . . . Arrangement

_He had promised himself he wouldn't do this. He had vowed that all he would dare to do would be to gaze longingly at her from across the room when she had her nose in her books, and she wouldn't notice; that he would act as he always did around her. He had sworn that he wouldn't fall in love with her. She was his best friend, not someone he could marry and call his own. Besides, she was with someone now; a pale skinned snake of a someone to be exact. How she had ended up with that someone, he didn't know. The someone had been their enemy for seven years now, yet she had decided to court him over the boy who had been fond of her for so long . . ._

Ron Weasley slammed the huge textbook against his forehead in frustration. How on earth was he to know how to apparate to Vietnam without a license? No one had taught him this stuff, and he shouldn't have even had homework assigned over the holidays! It wasn't rational!

The common room was empty but for him and Hermione Granger.

It might as well have been void of anyone but himself though for all of the good Hermione was doing, sitting there, sulking, with her face hidden by a book. She was refusing to talk to Ron because he had tried to copy off of her essay on apparation.

"You need to do your own work!" she had said, and she hadn't spoken to him since. There was no way he was going to apologise though. If Hermione wanted to be stingy with her information, then that was fine with him.

'She's overreacting,' Ron thought, rubbing his recently book pummelled head, 'I just wanted to use her small paragraph about apparating without a license, but no, she wouldn't even let me see it!'

Ron looked across the room at Hermione. Her hair had fallen in her face as she loomed over her books, and Ron couldn't help but marvel at how lovely she looked like that.

Hermione glanced up, and her eyes met Ron's. Ron felt his ears grow warm and knew that they were turning red.

He felt something click in his mind as her gazed into Hermione's brown eyes. It was as if someone had unlocked the door to his brain, and it suddenly seemed that he was vulnerable to the world.

'Ron,' a voice in his head said, 'Ron, it's me.'

Hermione's eyes bore into Ron's slowly widening ones with urgency.

Ron couldn't believe it. Hermione could use legimency? Ron reached out with his psyche, forming the words, all the while struggling not to break eye contact with Hermione.

'H-Hermione?' Ron finally managed to think.

'Ron, I've-' Hermione's thoughts were cut off by a knocking at the portrait hole. Their contact broke as their eyes darted to the said portrait hole. As soon as the contact broke, Ron's head started pounding, and it hurt like hell.

He scrunched up his face in pain as Hermione got up and went to the hole, figuring that Neville Longbottom had forgotten the password again.

She opened it up, and not Neville, but Draco Malfoy was standing there. Hermione looked surprised, so she obviously had not been expecting his visit.

"Hermione," Draco said, bowing slightly, "I hope you haven't forgotten our . . . arrangement."

"Oh! I'm sorry, I did!" Hermione exclaimed, turning red and rushing back to her books to shove them into her bag and hurry out the portrait hole without giving a sideways glance at Ron.

It slammed shut behind her and Ron was left alone in the common room.

"Bye," he said, holding his throbbing head in his hands.

**Author's Note: Did you like it? I hope you did! This chapter took me forever to write. I had that whole writer's block thing goin' on. Don't you HATE that? Please review. Thankee. **


	2. Punishment

**A/N: It's Chapter Two! Ha! **

**2**

"Punishment"

Hermione and Draco hurried down the hall to the empty classroom they had been studying in. It was their punishment for getting into a fight in arithmancy about a week ago. Draco was failing anyway, so Professor Vectra had assigned Hermione as his tutor. During the past week they had been studying, and Hermione had seen that Draco wasn't as evil a person as she had thought him to be.

Flashback

_Hermione sat down at the desk and took out her arithmancy books. Draco wasn't there yet. The jerk had probably forgotten about the appointment completely, and Hermione would be sitting there all night, waiting for him, the egotistical, self-centred, inconsider- Draco sauntered into the room. It was apparent that he wasn't at all excited about their situation. He dropped into a seat and pulled out his books._

_"Well, Granger, are we going to get started or just sit here?" he asked heatedly. Hermione glared at him, but pulled out the list of assignments they were appointed to finish that night. She and Draco worked for two and a half hours, and every minute seemed to show that Draco wasn't as daft as he seemed. As it turned out, he was only failing because he didn't participate in class. He knew all of the material, but fifty percent of the grade in arithmancy was participation. _

_"So, you didn't really . . . need a tutor, did you?" Hermione asked._

_"No. I didn't," Draco answered, "I wouldn't even be here if you weren't such a know-it-all."_

_"You didn't have to make that rash comment just because I enjoy studying!" Hermione pointed out._

_"Enjoy it!" Malfoy countered, standing up to emphasize his statement, "You would die without it, you nut!"_

_"Why are you like this?" Hermione asked._

_"Like what?" Malfoy snapped._

_"Why are you so cruel?" Draco looked taken aback, but he regained his cool composure quickly._

_"I was born this way. I was always like this and always will be," he replied, looking down on Hermione as if she were a hair in his mashed potatoes._

_Hermione stood up also. Her face levelled with Draco's. She glared at him insolently and shook her head. "No one is born a certain way. They become that way over time, depending upon their upbringings and social relationships," she stated, her gaze softening on the boy in front of her, looking into his eyes. "Something horrible happened to you, didn't it?"_

_"You come up with that crap on your own?" Draco asked uncouthly, hardening Hermione's sympathetic look in an instant. _

_"No, it's Eugene Vulgar's life work. Now answer my question."_

_"Some guy named Eugene studied people for his whole life, and that measly sentence is all he was able to come up with?" Draco asked._

_"God! Would you just answer my question already? Did something bad happen to you or not?" _

_"As a matter of fact, many unspeakable things have happened to me in my life, but if anything, they have made me stronger and capable of dealing with filthy mudbloods like you!"_

_Hermione backhanded Draco hard across the face, "You rot in hell, Malfoy!" she yelled, grabbing her bag and hastening out of the door._

_Malfoy stood in disbelief at what had just happened. That grimy little mudblood had just slapped him and told him to rot in hell, and he was just standing there? Oh no, she was not going to get away with that!_

_Draco sprinted into the corridor to catch up with Hermione. He reached her side and grabbed her wrist. She grimaced as she tried to wriggle free of his grasp, but he held fast._

_"You're-hurting-me," Hermione said, trying in vain to get loose._

_"You, little mixed breed, will not slap me and tell me to rot in hell and just head off to your friends to tell them how you got the better of me! Oh no, that's not how it works," Draco said menacingly._

_"Malfoy! I'm warning you!" she said._

_"You will pay. I don't know how though. It seems I've forgotten to devise a plan for my revenge."_

_"I will not let you take your anger out on me! Just because your father beat you-"_

_"How did you know about that?" Draco asked, tightening his grip on Hermione's wrist so that it really was painful._

_"Malfoy-stop! You're going to break my wrist!" Hermione pleaded. She was beginning to fear him in all of his anger. Draco had never meant to break any of her bones, maybe leave a few reminder bruises, but not any broken bones. Bone breaking was for Potter and Potter alone. He was the one who deserved it. Harry Potter. On the night that boy had lived, Draco had witnessed horrible things. He had been just a baby, but he still remembered the screams and pleas from that were emitted from his mother. His father had bludgeoned his mother to near death that night. Then, every year that same night, the same abusive man had tried to beat Draco. On the first year after, he had succeeded, but Draco had been wary every year since. _

_Thinking of these cruel happenings, Malfoy's grip on Hermione's frail wrist had grown lax. Hermione wrenched free, but did not run away._

_Draco stood as if in a trance, staring past Hermione._

_"Malfoy?" Hermione asked. Draco's gaze snapped back to her, and he narrowed his eyes._

_"How did you know that?" he demanded, lunging for her wrist again. Hermione yanked it away from him before he could grab her._

_"I guessed," she replied._

_"You _guessed_. You just _supposed_ that my father beat me, but did you ever once wonder _why_ he beat me, or why I hate you, and _Potter_, and that bloody weasel you both hang around with?" Draco snapped._

_"No, I didn't really think of that, but I am now, so why don't you just tell me?"_

_"Potter. Potter is the reason for all of it. He almost killed my mother, and I once."_

_"What? Harry never did anything to you!" Hermione exclaimed._

_"He lived! That's what he did! There was chaos in my house that night and every year after! It was his fault he had to be 'the boy who lived,' and now, he's famous for being a hero and defeating You-Know-Who every year!" Draco almost yelled._

_Hermione stared at him in awe. "What do you mean 'chaos'?" she asked._

_"Chaos! As in, my father nearly killed my mother, and then he tried to kill me! I'll never forget her screams and pleading the night she almost died!"_

_Hermione's eyes widened. This story sounded so much like Harry's story: his mother's pleas and screams, the small child who would remember it all._

_Tears welled up in her eyes. She had never known how horrible Draco's life had been. She had guessed that he had had some rough patches throughout his existence, but she had never imagined that he had suffered almost as much as Harry._

_"What?" Draco asked, "Is it that hard to imagine? This is what you wanted, right: to know why I'm so screwed up? Well, Granger, there it is!" he roughly pushed his sleeve up, revealing a jagged scar that travelled up the length of his forearm, "See this? This is what I've been forced to do! You got what you wanted, so get the hell away from me before you get caught out of the dormitories this late at night," he finished, pulling his sleeve down and folding his arms._

_"Draco, I didn't know you had it so bad. I wouldn't have asked if I had had any clue," Hermione said, a tear of sympathy running down her cheek._

_Draco frowned. "Are we doing away with the last name basis then?" he asked._

_"What?" Hermione asked._

_"You called me Draco," Draco said, still frowning._

_"Well, I mean, we never had any 'basis' set up, did we?"_

_"Well, no, but you've never called me by my first name before. It's always been Malfoy or some other name, but never Draco."_

_"Well, I guess I didn't think 'Malfoy' would flow properly with what I was about to say, but, um, if you want me to keep calling you by your last name, then I can."_

_"No, I mean, whatever. I don't care," Draco said, trying to regain his cool aura, but failing._

_"I should be going, but I'll see you tomorrow evening, same time, same place. So . . . um, bye," Hermione said, hurrying up to Gryffindor Tower._

End Flashback

They sat down and pulled out their books, as they always did, and finished the evening's studies.

"So, what was up with Weasley? He seemed like he was in pain when I came up to get you," Draco said as he slipped his books into his book bag.

Hermione froze. She hadn't told anyone about her secret practices of legimency and communication through minds. She had thought about trying it on Draco once, but she had decided that she would give one of her best friends the opportunity first.

"I, um, believe he had a headache," Hermione answered, not completely lying. The side effects of a broken mind connection were usually headaches or migraines. To avoid them, you had to break the connection slowly. Hermione had gotten used to the headaches by now, so she hadn't gotten a full blow from the sudden divide, but she had still had a minor pain in her head.

"Oh . . . Hermione, I was wondering if you would-" Draco looked up at Hermione, and his steel grey eyes met hers. There was a long silence, "Are you and Weasley going out?" he finally asked.

"Going out?" Hermione asked. She knew perfectly well what he meant, but she didn't see why he would care.

"Dating, seeing each other."

Hermione flushed. "Well, no, but I don't see why you would care at a-" she stopped as realisation hit her. She turned an even brighter pink.

"Would you like to go to the Graduation Ball with me, Hermione?" Draco asked, trying his best to stay calm.

"But I thought you and Pansy-"

"Do you believe the stuff people say during passing? Just because she's the only half decent looking girl in Slytherin does not mean I am in any way courting her. I went to the Yule Ball with her only because my father and hers are well acquainted. I'm not particularly fond of her actually. She's just too . . . let's just say she's not the sharpest tool in the shed."

Hermione frowned. She had hoped that . . . someone else would ask her to the ball, but Draco had asked first.

"Well, then, yes, I suppose I'll go with you. You _were_ the first to ask," Hermione finally decided, gathering her books.

"It will be my honour to accompany you to the ball, Hermione," Draco called to her as she walked out the door.

**A/N: Please review. Thankee.**


	3. The Specks of Gold

**A/N: I am SOOOOO sorry! I haven't updated in forever and you all probably hate me. I'm sorry! Here it is!**

**3**

The Specks of Gold

Ron grimaced as the portrait hole swung shut behind Hermione, and his head throbbed painfully.

" 'Mione?" he asked from the sofa he was sprawled out upon.

"Are you all right?" Hermione asked, sitting down by his feet.

"My head hurts like hell, but other than that, I feel fine. How about you? You and Malfoy have good time doing whatever you ran off to do?" Ron asked with a slight bitterness in his voice.

"Um, yes, I suppose so," Hermione said, feeling guilty that she had left Ron with a pounding headache that she had caused.

Ron looked at her and their eyes once again met. They were only about two feet from each other, and Ron could see the specks of gold in Hermione's irises. He felt the openness in his head he had felt earlier. He closed his eyes, not enjoying the feelings he had toward Hermione every time they did that.

"Ron?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah?" Ron replied, keeping his gaze away from her.

"You heard that the Graduation Ball is being held on Christmas Eve this year, right?"

"Yes."

"That really makes no sense, does it? What if one of the students goes to the ball, but they don't graduate? It's really odd."

"Uh, yeah. Are you going with anyone yet?"

"Actually, yes." Hermione turned a deep shade of red.

"Who?" Ron queried, his eyes suddenly looking upon Hermione. His head began to hurt for reasons he would not admit to anyone.

"Why do you always do this?" Hermione asked, "You always ask me who I'm going with even though you know I'm not going to tell you."

"I do not!" Ron said, "And how come you never tell me?" He had her pinned. Why _didn't_ she want to tell him?

"Because it's none of your business."

"But, Hermione, the guy you went to the Yule Ball with, Viktor, I mean, he was-He called you _Herm-own-ninny _for cripes sake!" Ron exclaimed in frustration, head still pounding.

"Viktor was a nice guy for your information! Much nicer than _you_ anyway," Hermione retorted, breathing heavily.

Ron felt as though he had been slapped. His ears turned red, and he clamped his mouth shut for fear that he might blurt out the words and phrases that were running through his head. A vein pulsed in his temple agonisingly. After a few moments, he was able to speak again. "If you thought Viktor Krum was 'nice,' the next thing you'll be telling me is that _Malfoy_ asked you to the ball, and you said yes," he huffed, his head still throbbing from his earlier headache.

Hermione bit her lip guiltily. Ron noticed the look on her face, and his mouth fell open. "No!" he cried, "You did _not_ say yes to that twit!" Hermione didn't say anything, "Bloody hell, you _did_!" Ron looked around in anger. He didn't know what to say. How could Hermione do this?

Hermione reached out her hand. "Ron," she said, "I-"

"What's this?" Ron interrupted, taking Hermione's wrist. As she had reached across the couch, her sleeve had been pulled up slightly, revealing the bruises from her argument with Malfoy about a week ago. Ron pushed the sleeve up more, uncovering more purple and green marks on Hermione's skin. He was so flustered he didn't notice how much of an invasion of personal space that was. "Did h-he do this to you?" he interrogated furiously, his voice shaking from the emotion he was managing to keep inside, "God, Hermione, w-what has been going on?"

Hermione pulled her arm away from him and covered her wounds again. "Nothing, Ron," she lied.

"Hermione?" Ron asked, sorrow in his voice, "You know y-you can tell Harry and I anything."

Hermione nodded, keeping her eyes distant. "I know, Ron."

"So, you and M-Malfoy are going to the ball together, eh? Why on _earth_-I mean, h-how did this happen?"

"Ron, I don't want to talk about it, all right?" Hermione said.

" 'Mione, I w-want you-I want you t-to tell me if he hurts you like this agai-"

"It's none of your business, Ron!"

Ron squared his jaw and looked away sullenly.

"Oh, God. Ron, I'm sorry. I didn't mean-"

"No, I know exactly what you meant, Hermione. Mind my own business, right? I shouldn't meddle in things that don't concern me, even if my best friend may be in danger. If that's what you want me to do, Hermione, fine, I'll leave you and 'your business' alone."

"Ron, I don't want to fight with you."

"Oh? Yes, you're doing a great job of preventing that." Ron's voice was laden with cruel sarcasm.

"Please don't do this."

"Hermione, I just want you to be safe."

"I'll be fine. Don't worry, I'm a big girl," Hermione replied, smiling.

"You scare me sometimes."

Hermione laughed. "I know."

Ron looked into Hermione's eyes, and the connection was made.

'How are we doing this?' Ron asked.

'Do you swear you won't tell anyone?' Hermione asked.

'Is it a secret?'

'Well, yes, sort of.'

'All right, but is it because you're studying legimency?'

Hermione gaped at the boy she had never thought even halfway capable of guessing as correctly as he just had. 'Yes and no. You see, I have been studying legimency-I don't know how you figured that out-but I've also been practicing an art called verotis. Verotis allows two people to communicate through each other's minds. You don't have to make eye contact, but it does make it easier. The side effects of a quickly broken mind connection are headaches and migraines. I'm sorry about that,' Hermione explained, 'You cannot tell _anyone_!'

'What about Harry? He will get suspicious if we're always staring at each other from across the room, won't he?'

'Which is _exactly_ why we won't do that anymore. I told you, we don't have to make eye contact to communicate.'

'But every time we look at each other, it happens! What're we going to do, not look at each other for the rest of our lives? Yeah, that's _real_ normal.'

Hermione suddenly spoke aloud. "Look, Ron, I don't know, but we can't tell Harry!" She automatically regretted saying that, for Harry stepped through the portrait hole as soon as she had said it, followed by Luna Lovegood. The portrait slammed shut, and Ron grimaced in pain.

"Can't tell me what?" Harry asked.

"We can't tell you," Hermione said, grabbing Ron's leg so he would keep his mouth shut. She glanced at Luna. "Ravenclaws aren't supposed to be in here, Harry. You should know that by now," she said in her usual, all-knowing manner.

Ron froze as Hermione's hand touched his leg. He knew it wasn't an affectionate gesture, but for just that moment, he wished it was.

Harry shrugged, and it was obvious that he could care less about Ron's and Hermione's secret or the fact that Ravenclaws weren't allowed in the Gryffindor common room. He sat down on one of the sofas and motioned to Luna to sit next to him.

Ron normally would have raised his eyebrows at this, but Hermione's hand had not moved from it's conspicuous spot on his leg, and he couldn't seem to find his voice, let alone his smart-ass attitude.

He needed to do something about this; He couldn't just sit there and let his unspoken feelings ravage him in their entirety.

"You all right, Ron?" Harry asked. He glanced at Hermione's hand and smiled mischievously.

"Yeah," Ron grunted, seeing as he could hardly breathe, "Just a little headache is all."

Harry nodded in sarcastic agreement. He leaned over and whispered something in Luna's ear. Luna grinned and took a quick look at Hermione's hand.

'Ron,' Hermione said in Ron's mind, 'don't tell Harry or Luna anything.'

Ron nodded and exhaled in relief as Hermione's hand left his leg.

"Luna," she persisted, "you shouldn't be in the common room. If Professor McGonagall finds out you were in here, she won't be pleased."

"I should be going," Luna agreed. She got up and walked to the portrait hole. She turned suddenly. "Oh! I nearly forgot," she said, "I was hoping we could do this again sometime, Harry. It was fun."

She hurried out of the room with a flourish of her robes.

Ron looked at Harry expectantly. Harry said nothing, but he turned red.

Hermione stood up. "I'm going to the library," she announced.

Ron watched her as she left. Why was he doing this to himself? He had had his chance to ask her to the ball or otherwise, but he hadn't taken the opportunity.

"You and Loony make a good couple," Ron commented when the portrait hole closed, "Have you asked her to the ball yet?"

"No, have you asked Hermione?" Harry replied. Ron looked appalled.

"W-what makes think I was going to?" Ron asked. Harry rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"It's obvious that you fancy her, Ron." Ron didn't know what to say. "You should have seen your face when she grabbed your leg."

"Y-you noticed that?"

"I think Hermione was the only one that _didn't_ notice. You should ask her to the ball."

"I-" Ron looked down, "I can't."

"Why not?"

"She's already been asked."

"What! By who? Did she say yes?"

"Of course she said yes! Why else wouldn't I be able to ask her?"

"Who asked her, Ron?"

Ron looked at Harry, grimacing at the thought of what the latter might do if he found out who Hermione was going to the ball with. "I-I think you should ask her that," he said.

"Is the guy _that_ bad?" Harry queried.

"Worse than you know, but apparently she has grown fond him, so let's just drop it, all right?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't know she was taken. Otherwise, I wouldn't have asked if-"

"It's all right, but what about you and Luna? Why haven't you asked her to the ball?"

"I don't know how I would say it, and what if she says no, or she's going with someone else? I'm just worried that she doesn't want to get too far involved with me."

"I think you should go for it."

"I don't know if I can. She might say no or-"

"Just do it. What have you got to lose? She already knows you like her."

"You know what, I think I will," Harry said, getting up and walking to the portrait hole, "Thanks, Ron."

"Don't mention it," Ron replied as the portrait hole closed, leaving him alone in the common room yet again. Everyone seemed to enjoy leaving the common room at night.

**A/N: Okay, once again, I'm sorry, and thanks to those of you who were especially persistent in reviewing. Please review again . . . . . if you don't totally hate me.**


	4. A Walk Through the Corridors

**Author's Note: Hey! Long time no see, eh? So sorry about that. I've just been really . . . not motivated to post more . . . I hope this makes up for it . . .**

**4**

A Walk Through the Corridors

Hermione sat in the library, looking over a few of her homework essays, making changes where needed, completing unfinished paragraphs and sentences.

"Miss Granger," the Madame Pince called, "it's getting late. I suggest you head back to Gryffindor Tower."

Hermione got up and proceeded to the exit. She walked out into the corridor, and shivered at the frigid draft that wafted through it.

She saw a figure heading towards her in the dark, and realised that it was Draco. He was walking at a brisk pace, and Hermione deciphered an expression of sheer fury on his face as he neared her.

"HOW _DARE_ YOU!" he bellowed when he reached her, his fists clenched at his sides. Hermione had no idea what he was talking about, and was worried that she may not have done anything at all, and Draco was just looking for a target to pin his anger on.

"Draco, I have no clue wha-" she began in her defence.

"I JUST MET UP WITH _POTTER_ IN THE CORRIDOR BY THE PICTURE OF THE WITCH WITH THE OWL!" he yelled at her. Hermione was becoming more confused by the second, a feeling she was not accustomed to.

"I don't know what you are talk-" she tried again.

"HE TOLD ME I HAD BETTER-AND I QUOTE-STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM YOU BECAUSE YOU AND _WEASLEY_ WERE DATING AND HAD FALLEN IN LOVE!" he roared, his usually slicked back hair falling in his face.

It was Hermione's turn to be angry. "WHY WOULD HE SAY THAT?" she hollered.

"I DON'T KNOW! MAYBE BECAUSE IT'S _TRUE_!"

"Draco, I swear it's not."

"But, why would he say that if it wasn't?"

"I don't know, but I _will_ find out. If Harry and Ron set this up to keep me from going to the ball with you-UGH!" Hermione shook her head in distaste.

"So it's not true?" Draco asked, inhaling deeply.

"No!" Hermione exclaimed, still fuming about the lie Harry had told. She looked at Draco and grinned. She had never before seen him with even a lock of hair out of place.

"What?" Draco asked.

"You shouldn't slick your hair back all the time. It makes you look more . . . friendly when it's messy," Hermione said, tilting her head to one side to examine his new look.

"Friendly?" Draco questioned, lifting an eyebrow in surprise.

Hermione laughed slightly. Was it that hard for Draco to accept himself as not that bad of a person? "Yes, _friendly_. Even _you_ can do it, Draco. All we have to do is just mess up your hair on a regular basis, and you could look like a nice person. Here," Hermione reached out and ruffled Draco's hair more than it already was, "There you are."

Draco went to a mirror that was hanging on the wall nearby, and using his wand as a light, he looked at himself. He did not smile or cry out in agony, but he gaped at his nice-guy appearance.

"Well?" Hermione asked, still smiling slightly.

"I-what . . . how-how can messing up my hair make me look so different?" he asked, touching his mussed hair with one hand as though he feared it was not really there.

Hermione walked over to him and rested her arm on his shoulder, leaning on him as he pulled at his hair in disbelief.

"I don't know how I could have ever thought that mudbl-wizards that aren't pureblood were foul loathsome people."

Hermione jumped in shock and stepped away from Draco. "Y-you thought that about me-us?" she asked, hurt overpowering her.

"I don't anymore, but I did. I wasn't allowed to play with witches and wizards that weren't pureblood when I was a child. My father made them seem as though they were dangerous and . . ," Draco groped for words that were powerful enough to explain his father's point of view, "pointless to society. He made it seem like they weren't good enough to take up the air that the purebloods needed to breathe. I was too young to understand, and I didn't know otherwise, so I believed him. Then, I met you, and I at once saw that you weren't as my father described, but you joined _Potter_ and I hated you for that."

"Do you hate me for joining Harry now?" Hermione asked.

Draco shook his head. "I can't," he said, "I'm in-" Draco stopped and looked away from Hermione.

"It's getting dark. I don't want to lose house points. We should go," Hermione said, realising that Draco was not going to finish his statement.

"Yeah," Draco replied distantly. They began walking to Gryffindor tower in silence.

They had been winding through the dark corridors for several minutes before someone came up behind them. They turned around to see none other than Severus Snape, his face contorted in a nasty grin.

He hardly seemed to notice Draco, but stared at Hermione intently.

"Well, Miss Granger," her said in a vile whisper, "it seems you do not believe that you must follow the rules as the other students do. Why are you wandering the corridors this late at night?"

"I was in the library. I left just a short time ago," Hermione answered, keeping her voice steady.

Snape considered this for a moment. "Just the same, you are in the corridors after dark. Ten points from Gryffindor," he decided, grinning devilishly.

Snape got ready to turn away without reprimanding Draco in any way, but Draco suddenly stepped forward, startling both Snape and Hermione. "Professor," he said, "what about me? I'm in the corridors after dark. Aren't you going to take any points from my house?"

The Professor looked from Hermione to Draco questioningly, and then, after scowling at Hermione once more, sighed and said, "Very well, five points from Slytherin," he coughed, "See fit that I do not catch either of you drifting about the corridors after dark again."

He shot another puzzled look toward Draco and then turned briskly, leaving the latter and Hermione alone again.

Draco began to walk forward, but Hermione stood rooted to the spot. Draco turned around. "Coming?" he asked.

Hermione walked up to his side, and they resumed their tread to the tower.

"You didn't have to do that, you know," Hermione said, looking at Draco.

"I know," Draco replied.

"Why did you do it?"

Draco shrugged. "Here we are," he said suddenly. Hermione looked up and saw the Fat Lady. She was strangely disappointed that her walk with Draco had ended.

"Until tomorrow?" Draco asked, bowing somewhat.

"Until tomorrow," Hermione confirmed. She walked up to the portrait and turned to see if Draco was still there, but he was gone.

**Author's Note: Once again,sorry for the long wait on that chapter.ashamed facePlease don'texpress your angerby not reviewing! **


	5. Chiding

**A/N: Well, I suppose all of you do hate me . . . Cept Snicket! LUV ya, girl! Yo my best friend! I think I'm gonna post two chapters this time . . . Maybe coax ya'll into reviewing. Heh heh . . . I'm so sorry about the long wait last time. Please don't let it stop you from reviewing!**

**5**

Chiding

Hermione stepped through the portrait hole, smiling, until she spotted Harry and Ron, that is. Luckily-or maybe not so luckily-for them, no one else was in the room to see them be yelled at.

"RON! HARRY!" Hermione bellowed. Ron looked utterly confused and afraid, while Harry looked the part of the guilty party.

Ron stared at Hermione with big eyes, and it was obvious he had no clue what he was being scolded for. Hermione turned on Harry who smiled at her with a look that begged her not to kill him.

"_Harry_," Hermione growled, storming up to him so she was a foot away, "why on _earth_ would you tell Draco a thing like that? And _you_," she looked at Ron, "did you tell him who I was going to the ball with?"

Ron shook his head vigorously.

"How'd you find out, Harry?" she asked.

"I guessed."

Hermione paused and thought about this. "_Ron_," she said, "did you have anything to do with telling Draco _we_ were dating?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.

Ron's eyes widened to the size of saucers, and he shook his head slowly. He then shot an accusing look at Harry, who shrugged in apology.

Hermione's gaze snapped onto Harry. "_Harry_," she snarled, "_why_ would you say that when it's _obvious_ that Ron and I are _not_ dating?"

Harry opened and closed his mouth many times before decisively clamping it shut.

"You don't have anything to say for yourself?" Hermione asked.

Harry shook his head.

Hermione sighed. "If you two don't want me to go to the ball with Draco, just say so. Don't go around telling lies to people."

"We don't want you to go to the ball with Malfoy!" Harry and Ron blurted simultaneously.

Hermione looked at them incredulously. "Draco is not that bad of a person! If you knew why he is the way he is you wouldn't hate him so much!"

"But, Hermione, what about all of the times he called you a-a mublood?" Ron asked.

"He didn't mean it!" Hermione exclaimed, though she knew that was not wholly true.

"Hermione, he's dangerous! You could get hurt!" Harry said.

"He's _not_ dangerous," Hermione said exasperatedly, "I think he's . . . never mind."

Ron shook his head, and Harry's mouth hung open in confusion.

"Hermione-" Harry attempted.

"I don't want to talk about it," Hermione interrupted, hurrying out of the room and up to the girls' dormitories.

Ron looked at Harry expectantly. When the latter said and did nothing, he asked, "What did you tell Malfoy, Harry?"

"N-nothing," Harry claimed, "Just something that I had hoped would keep him away from Hermione."

"I figured that, but _what_ did you tell him?"

"I-uh-I sort of told him that you w-were-uh-dating Hermione," Harry paused to see Ron's face contort in a gesture of anger and then sadness, "and-"

"There's _more_!" Ron exclaimed, throwing his head into his hands in frustration.

"Uh, yeah, about the next part, are you-uh-_sure_ you want to hear it?"

"Bloody _hell_, Harry, what were you _thinking_?"

"Do you want to hear it before you kill me, or shall I just suffer the consequences now?"

"Tell me. I wouldn't want to kill my good friend without reason, not that I don't already have it."

Harry cringed. "A-all right, I-uh-sort of told him that y-you and Hermione were-uh-in love."

Ron froze. He did not speak, or move. He hardly breathed at all during that moment. He looked at Harry acrimoniously, but he could not seem to tell him off.

"S-she didn't say anything about t-that," Ron finally said.

Harry looked as though he had just realised that fact for the first time, "She didn't, did she? I wonder if it means an-"

"How could she not say anything about that!" Ron exclaimed, "_I_ would say something about that! I mean, it's sort of a big issue!"

"It might me-" Harry tried again, only to be interrupted once again by his ranting friend.

"She's gone _mental_!" the latter yelled, not understanding how strange it sounded coming from a raving lunatic, "She didn't say anything about _that_! What is _wrong_ with her? She didn't think that-"

"Ron!" Harry raised his voice, cutting Ron off, "Maybe she didn't say anything because she fancies you."

Ron laughed bitterly at Harry's statement, "If you think that's the case, maybe you should ask her," he said critically.

"What? Why should _I_ ask her? I don't even _care_ all that much! Besides, she's _furious_ at me for telling Draco those things. She wouldn't listen. _You_ should ask her. I know _you_ care."

Ron pondered for a moment. "Fine then. I will," he said.

"Great. I'm going to bed," Harry said, and he left.

Ron was alone in the common room once again.

He sat in front of the fire, watching the flames lick the bricks. He began to nod off, and was soon asleep on the hearth.

**A/N: Please review! And thanks, Snicket, once again, for that great review in the previous chapter. I shall cherish it forever!**


	6. The Black and Grey Owl

**Author's Note: Painful as it is for me, I must focus on this story alone---sorry to my The Little White Room readers. I will try working on that after Book 6 comes out, but this story needs to be finished beforehand. I can't wait to get a whole new grasp on everything after I read the book! I'm so excited!**

**6**

The Black and Grey Owl

Hermione woke to a loud tapping at the window outside the girls' dormitories. She opened her eyes and saw a large, black and grey owl perched on the windowsill, rapping on the glass with its pointed beak.

Hermione got out of her bed and walked to the window. She knew the owl must have come for her since she was the only Gryffindor girl that had stayed at Hogwarts over the holidays. She opened the window, and the owl hopped in. There was a note and a flower tied to its leg. The flower looked like a cross between a rose and an iris, and it smelled lovely. The note was sealed with red wax that had stamp of the flower pressed into it. Hermione opened it carefully so as not to break the seal. She pulled out the enclosed parchment, and set the envelope down on her bedside table. She unfolded the letter. It read:

_Dear Hermione, _

_Meet me in the courtyard around five thirty a.m. I will be waiting for you._

_-Draco_

Hermione looked at the flower Draco had given her. She was growing fond of him, but was she just going to abandon the fact that she fancied Ron? It was obvious that Ron did not feel the way she did toward him, so why did she insist on trying to get him to.

Hermione threw the letter down on her bed and hurried to get ready. She had to meet Draco, even if she still liked Ron.

It was near five when Hermione came down the stairs, expecting the common room to be empty, but Ron was still sleeping near the embers of the flames.

Hermione sighed with impatience at Ron's daftness. She looked at him fondly, hoping that she could sneak out of the room unnoticed.

Much to her misfortune, Ron woke up at that very moment. He blinked, looking around. He spotted Hermione and looked questioningly at her. "What time is it?" he asked, rubbing his eyes.

Hermione sighed again and sat down on one of the sofas, realising that Ron would not let her go without an explanation. "It's around five o'clock," she answered, "What are you sleeping down here for?"

"I nodded off."

"Oh."

"What're _you_ doing down here this early?"

"I-I was going to go for a walk."

Ron looked at her as if he expected more of a justification. "Going to see Malfoy?" he asked despondently when she said no more.

Hermione faltered. "Yes," she finally answered. Ron acquiesced solemnly. "Ron," Hermione said, "he's not that bad if you take the time to get to know him." Ron did not say anything. He just looked at the embers of the fire with a dazed countenance. "Ron?" Hermione asked, "Are you all right?"

Ron flinched as though he had forgotten Hermione was there, "What? Oh-oh yeah, I'm fine, feeling great," he said, though his voice was still heavy with grief.

Hermione stood up hesitantly. "Do you mind if I go?" she asked.

"Just go," Ron said, closing his eyes. Hermione headed to the portrait hole. She was getting ready to pull the portrait open when Ron suddenly leapt up. "Wait!" he called, bounding up to her, "I-I-Harry told-" he turned red from embarrassment as he stumbled nervously over the words he was trying to get out, "Harry told me what he said to M-Malfoy last night," he finally blurted.

Hermione narrowed her eyes, remembering how Draco had reacted to Harry's lie, "That's lovely. Why does it matter?"

"I-_we_ were just wondering why you didn't say anything about the second half of what Harry said."

"The-the second half?" Hermione queried as if it had not been on her mind since she had found out that Harry had said it.

"About us-well, not _us_-but about-"

"Oh, you mean _that_ second half," Hermione said, saving Ron from saying the words that were so detrimental to his psyche, "I did mention them, didn't I?"

"No."

Hermione looked over Ron's shoulder at the clock tower across the courtyard. It was nearly five twenty. "Ron, I really need to go. Draco will be waiting for me," she said.

Ron looked away and nodded solemnly. When he looked back, Hermione had already fled out of the room through the portrait hole.

**A/N: There's so much tension in the air, and the anticipation is killing me! Darn you, Alice! You're wasting my life with your stupid dreams! Please please PLEASE review!**


	7. To Gel or Not to Gel

**A/N: I'm trying so hard to finish this story and get it all posted before Book Six, so bear with me here. I hope this chapter and the one following it suit your needs since I can't post Chapter Nine until you have had a bit of suspense. I will most likely be posting it and Chapter Ten tomorrow. Chapter Eleven might show up then, too. **

**7**

To Gel or Not to Gel

Draco looked into the partially fogged mirror that he had been standing in front of for the past hour. He held his hair gel in his hand, debating whether to put it on as usually did and look the same as he always had or to let his hair dry without it and go to see Hermione.

He bit his lip in frustration, tossing the bottle from hand to hand. He looked at himself. His hair didn't look all that bad the way it was, mussed and mildly spiky.

Draco put the gel down decisively and headed into the dorms to get dressed. He glanced at the clock that was hanging on the dorm room wall as he put his shirt on. It was already five twenty-five.

He gasped and hurried to pull on his trousers. He hopped out the door on one foot as he yanked his socks on, carrying his shoes in his mouth by the laces and his winter robes slung over his shoulder.

He reached the bottom of the stairway and sat down, shoving his feet into his shoes.

He hopped up and began sprinting to the portrait hole, pulling his robes on. He had just about reached the exit when Pansy Parkinson appeared out of nowhere.

"Morning, Drakie-Poo," she said, walking towards Draco.

"Pansy, get out of my way," Draco commanded.

Pansy didn't seem to hear him. "I see you're going without gel this morning," she said, "You look like a bloody Gryffindor if you ask me-"

"Which I didn't," Draco interrupted.

"Are you trying to impress someone?" Pansy asked, stepping towards Draco.

"No," Draco growled, "I need to go, _now_, so move."

Pansy took a large stride towards Draco so that she her nose was almost touching his. Her black hair had been coiled into tight, corkscrew curls.

Draco took a step back. "You got a perm, I see," he said, planning his escape.

"Oh, you noticed!" Pansy screeched, smiling in squinty manner, "Do you like?" she asked, primping her hair.

Draco stepped to the side. "Not really," he replied.

Pansy looked hurt, which was what Draco had intended to make her feel. Her eyes teared up.

Draco smiled, seeing this as an exit, and ran to the portrait hole. He made it out and sprinted up the corridor.

He burst out of the dungeons, marvelling at how the drafts of wind made his hair move so easily.

**A/N: Please review! I beggin' ya!**


	8. I Will Be Waiting For You

**8**

I Will Be Waiting For You

Hermione felt tears welling up in her eyes as she ran away from Gryffindor Tower.

How could Ron ask her a question like that? He didn't know how much she liked-loved him, but even if he did, why would he do it?

The tears spilled over the rims of her eyes, dropping onto her wool coat.

She sniffed and wiped her face with a sleeve. She didn't want Draco to see her crying.

Hermione reached the courtyard promptly and looked for a sign of Malfoy. She found none and immediately thought that he had stood her up. This brought a fresh round of tears that streamed down her face. She walked forward and sat down on a stone bench, sobbing into her gloves.

She hardly noticed someone running into the courtyard. She didn't stop crying when the person sat down next to her or when the person took her hands in theirs. She didn't open her eyes as the person's lips met hers.

Her hand found its way to the person's cheek. She was certain this person was a boy, and she was hoping she wouldn't open her eyes to find out otherwise. She ran her hand through his hair, which was indescribably soft. She thought, for a split second before she realised how outlandish the idea was, that the boy was Ron.

He pulled away, and Hermione dared to look at him. Two steel grey irises that were uncharacteristically warm met her brown ones as her eyes opened.

"Draco," Hermione breathed.

If Draco's genes had allowed him to blush, Hermione was sure he would have, but he merely went pale. She flew into his arms, nestling there for comfort. Draco held her tenderly with his chin resting on her shoulder, running his hands as best he could through her bushy hair.

"What happened?" he asked as she sobbed.

Hermione knew she couldn't tell Draco about what Ron had asked since she would then have to tell him why it had upset her. Naturally, that secret couldn't be told after what had just happened.

"You weren't in the courtyard when I arrived, and I lost my composure. I don't know what came over me."

Draco pulled away from her suddenly. "Did you hear that?" he asked, looking around warily.

Hermione looked at him questioningly. "Hear what?"

"That noise," Draco answered, standing up and reaching for his wand.

"Draco," Hermione said, "it's probably just the wind. There's no need to be so paranoid."

"I could've sworn I heard something over there," Draco insisted, pointing towards the pillar near the opening Hermione had come through, "It was like a gasp or a cough or something."

"You're overreacting," Hermione said, grabbing Draco's hand, which was slowly inching toward his wand.

Draco stared at her intently as she held his hand in hers.

"Just calm down," Hermione whispered, pulling Draco back onto the bench.

"But someone-"

Hermione silenced Draco's chatter with a kiss. She had no idea what she was doing. Where were her morals? Much more importantly, where was her common sense? This was Malfoy that she was kissing; Draco Malfoy.

Draco began to kiss back, but Hermione ripped herself away, shaking her head. "I shouldn't have done that," she said, frowning and turning her back on him.

"Why not?" Draco asked, putting his hand on her shoulder and making her face him.

He looked into her eyes, and she struggled not to open her mind to him. She was beginning to feel that verotis was a communication just for her to share with Ron only; not Harry; not Draco; just Ron.

Hermione felt her control over the power slipping and looked away quickly. "I just met you," she said almost inaudibly.

"What? We met seven years ago!" Draco exclaimed in confusion.

"But we-I just figured out who you are a week ago. I mean, I'm not a spontaneous person. I don't do things on impulse. I always take time to think about what doing them could mean. I can't do this."  
"If it's so wrong, why did you kiss me in the first place?" Draco asked, the hurt he had kept from showing on his face tumbling out in his voice.

Hermione looked at him and then looked down, deep in thought. She suddenly felt that she needed to talk to Ron.

Draco tilted her chin up and stared at her. He brought his lips to hers, wrapping his other arm around her waist.

Hermione thought about pulling away, but she didn't. Instead, she kissed back, hoping that she was making the right decision.

As she and Draco kissed, Hermione couldn't sweep away the feeling that they were being watched. Had Draco's worries been a reality?


	9. Running From Love

**A/N: Well, as I promised, here's Chapter Nine. Ten and Eleven are coming in a small while.**

**9**

Running From Love

Indeed, they had. Behind the pillar, that Draco had suspected of being a hiding spot for prying eyes, stood a surprised, hurt, and somewhat nauseous Ron.

Flashback

_After Hermione left Ron in the common room, he hastened up the stairs to the boys' dormitories to wake Harry. He wanted to borrow the Invisibility Cloak and Maurauder's Map. _

_He got to Harry's four-poster and pulled back the drapes, but Harry wasn't there._

_Ron thought that was odd, but he remembered his dilemma. He grabbed a piece of loose parchment off the floor and hurried to find a quill. He scribbled down a note so fast that he was sure Harry would never be able to decipher it, but he didn't have the time to write anything more legible._

_He searched through Harry's trunk, trying his best not to damage anything in his rush, and grabbed the desired items._

_He flew down the stairs and cloaked himself before running out of the portrait hole. He looked at the map as he ran, not expecting anyone to be up at that hour. He found Hermion's dot. She was in the courtyard. Unfortunately, Malfoy was heading for that exact location._

_Ron sped up and ran towards the girl he had been falling for, ever since he had met her. He reached the spot a second too late. He almost yelled as the sight of Malfoy's lips meeting Hermione's filled his eyes. He rushed behind a pillar and stood there, not able to tear his eyes from the pair._

_He stood there, clutching the stone and knowing that none of what he had hoped for was going to be at all possible._

_He heard Malfoy ask what had happened and watched as Hermione put on what Ron liked to call "her lying face" and told Malfoy that she had been crying because he hadn't shown up as promptly as she would have liked._

"_Huh?" Ron accidentally said aloud. Malfoy looked up and seemed about ready to pull his wand out, but Hermione grabbed his hand and pulled him back onto the bench. Ron thought she had pulled him down on the bench in a place that was much closer to her than where Malfoy had been before. _

_Malfoy tried to say something, but Hermione kissed him._

_Ron gaped. He was shocked that Hermione would do such a thing. She didn't normally act that way._

_She pulled away, and Ron heard the mutterings about not knowing each other well enough. Malfoy made her look at him and tilted her chin towards him. He kissed her._

End Flashback

So, Ron stood in sadness. He turned and began to run away. He was sure one of the two people in the courtyard heard his footsteps as he ran. He was certain that Malfoy had stood up again, wondering what all the noise was. He was sure about everything except his feelings. He couldn't accept them, and he knew he never would. They were too painful for him to admit and too strong for him to ignore.

He ended up in the common room eventually; he wasn't quite sure which path he had taken, and he wasn't really aware of having uttered the password to the portrait.

He took Harry's things back to the dorms and put them away neatly in Harry's trunk. The note he had left on the bed remained there untouched, so he decided to take it and put it in his pocket; there was no longer any need for Harry to know where his things had been since he hadn't found out about their absence.

Ron walked back to the common room, feeling separated from everything. He sat down by the fire and waited for someone-anyone to arrive.

**A/N: I'm sorry for the short chapter, by the way. It's just, with my anxiety and lack of focus, I've been having problems focusing on one topic long enough for the chapters to be long. I switch character revolutions too often. SOORY! I beg for your forgiveness by way of reviewing. **


	10. The Dying Embers of a Fire

**A/N: CHAPTER TEN! Hoot! R&R please.**

**10**

The Dying Embers of a Fire

Hermione entered the common room. Her face was flushed with the winter cold mixed with the feelings of embarrassment she was feeling for having done what she had.

She spotted Ron sitting near the embers of the fire, staring into it. He hadn't looked up when she had entered. He hadn't even made it seem as though he had realised that the fire had died.

"Ron?" Hermione called softly.

Ron didn't look away from the smouldering ashes. "Hi," he said.

Hermione took off her coat and threw it over the side of the sofa. She moved to start the fire again, but Ron held out an arm, blocking her from the tools and wood.

"Don't," he said.

Hermione gave him a questioning look but backed off quietly and sat down in a chair. "What's up?" she asked, running a hand through her hair.

"Smouldering," Ron said, and Hermione assumed that he was talking about the fire.

"You're rather distant," Hermione commented.

"Aren't I always?" Ron said, standing up finally and sitting in the chair across from Hermione, not looking at her.

"No . . . You're usually very talkative."

"Well . . . people don't always act like they usually do," Ron said, hoping Hermione would take the hint.

She didn't. "No, they don't."

Everything was silent as the last coal left its life with a small pop. "Graduation Ball's tomorrow," Ron said, breaking the silence.

"Yes, it is. Have you asked anyone to go with you yet?" Hermione queried.

"I sent a letter to Lavender. I suppose she won't want to go with me. After all, Parvati and Padma were less than happy about the way Harry and I were as dates at the Yule Ball. I could just go alone. Dance with myself. Do it all the time at home," Ron said, pitying himself.

Hermione nodded.

"Maybe I should ask Cho since Harry's obviously over her . . . Wonder if he would mind. Cho's a nice looking girl too . . . Wouldn't be like asking someone repulsive."

At that point, Hermione cringed, happy that Ron wasn't looking at her. "I-I don't think Harry will mind. He's so obviously smitten with Luna, I doubt he would care at all."

"You know, I had someone in mind to ask, and I was real close to asking her, but I found out she had already been asked. I bet Cho has too. Maybe I should go ask now. Care to come?" Ron inquired, standing up.

Hermione shook her head. "I'll pass," she said.

Ron left the room, and she was left in silence. "Damn you, Hermione Granger," she said to herself, "What have you done? You could have said no to Draco. Truly, you could have. Maybe Ron would have asked you for lack of anyone else to ask. You did this to yourself. Now, you can suffer the consequences."

Hermione felt tears spring to her eyes. "You're a stupid girl, Hermione," she mumbled, "a stupid, stupid girl."

The portrait hole opened, and Hermione looked up to see Harry coming into the room. She had forgiven him mostly for what he had told Draco. His intentions had been good, even if they had not seemed to be that way at first.

"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed, "Where have you been?"

"N-Nowhere," Harry replied, blushing. He looked at Hermione, "Why're you crying?"

"Huh?" Hermione asked.

"Never mind," Harry said, sitting down on the sofa.

"You look exhausted."

"I am. I got no sleep last night. You'll never believe who's a Quidditch queen."

"Luna?" Hermione asked, grinning.

Harry laughed. "Yeah. She's great. I wish she were on the team."

"Would you care if someone asked Cho to the Graduation Ball?" Hermione asked randomly.

"Not really. I mean, I've got Luna. I asked her last night. She said she would. I'm eager to see what she's wearing."

"What if one of your best friends asked her?" Hermione queried.

Harry gave Hermione a questioning look. "_You're_ not asking her; are you?"

Hermione shook her head vigorously. "Of course not, but Ron is."

"Ron?" Harry said, the fact that Hermione had been crying when he had walked in springing to his mind.

"Yes, Ron."

"Why?"

"Because she's not repulsive," Hermione repeated in exasperation.

Harry paused then laughed out loud. "Ron. He's such a nut."

Hermione smiled. "He is."

Ron came into the room suddenly. "She said yes," he announced, not smiling.

"That's great, Ron," Harry said, "Who said yes?"

"Cho, though I expect Hermione, here, has already told you all about it," Ron said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Hermione asked.

"Figure it out yourself," Ron said, storming up to the boys' dormitories.

Harry looked after him, mildly surprised. "Short fuse, that one."

"Yeah . . ." Hermione said, staring blankly at the staircase to the boys' dormitories, "You wouldn't happen to know anything about what's wrong with him, would you?"

Harry shrugged. "Want me to go ask?" he asked.

"You don't have to. I would appreciate it if you did, though. He's not very open when it comes to talking to me."

"All right then," Harry said, getting up, "See you in a bit."

Hermione nodded.

**A/N: Please review! **


	11. Everything is Taken Away

**Author's Note: Chapter Eleven, as promised. **

**11**

Everything is Taken Away

Harry walked into the dormitories to find Ron sitting at the windowsill, glaring through the pane of glass as though it had hurt him somehow.

"Ron?"

Ron didn't look away from the window. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Hermione is worried about you," Harry said, hoping the statement would bring information from his best friend.

Ron shook his head, standing up. "No, she's not. She couldn't be. She's got someone else to worry about."

"You mean Malfoy?"

"Of course I mean Malfoy. Who else?"

Harry shrugged. "Are you going to be all right?"

Ron put on what seemed more like a grimace than the smile it was meant to be. "Why wouldn't I be? I get to go to the Graduation Ball with Cho Chang. Harry, I never even _liked_ Cho Chang!" he exclaimed, beginning to pace, "All I wanted was to ask the _one_ girl I really liked-maybe _loved_-to the ball, but, you know what, I guess that's not bloody possible!" He was trying to keep his voice down, certain that someone would overhear if he spoke too loud. "Because _everything_ I want in this life gets taken away from me! I can't even look at Hermione anymore without thinking about how happy Malfoy must bloody be to have her! It hurts. It really does, and now, when I look at Hermione, all I can see is the one thing I _never_ wanted to see. I-" Ron stopped pacing and looked Harry in the eye, "I can't deal with pain like this," he said in a hoarse whisper, "I've never shared my true feelings until now, and as it turns out, I can't even bring myself to share them with me yet. I'm admitting them to you when _I_ haven't even accepted them for what they are!" Ron cried his last words and looked away.

Harry stood with his hands hanging limply at his sides. He hadn't expected this from Ron. He had walked up the stairs expecting an explosion, but never one full of such emotion. "I . . . Why don't you just tell her?" Harry asked.

Ron shot him a withering glance. "That would be like jumping into a pit that I knew was filled with spiders, Harry. I would risk losing what little dignity I have left."

Harry knew this wasn't a time to be cracking jokes, but Ron had set himself up. "When did you _ever_ have dignity?"

Ron grinned wanly. "When I wasn't falling for the one thing that won't be there when I hit the ground," he said in a quiet voice.

Harry nodded. "What do you want me to tell her?"

"Tell who?"

"Hermione. She sent me up here to see what was wrong with you."

"Tell her . . . that I'm overwhelmed. She doesn't take hints very well, so I don't think she'll think anything of it," Ron said with a certainty that made him weary.

Harry smiled crookedly and went out the door.

**A/N: Review, please!**


	12. Harmless Lies

**Author's Note: Here's Chapter Twelve. Please enjoy. **

**12**

Harmless Lies

Harry tromped down the staircase, meeting Hermione's expectant eyes with the sobered face of a lectured child.

"Well?" Hermione asked eagerly, closing the book that she had been reading.

"He's feeling overwhelmed," Harry lied. It was what Ron had told him to say, and if a bit of harmless lying to one friend was going to protect the other, he would do it in an instant, but the one question he was asking himself was: Was the bit of lying harmless?

Hermione's gaze wavered and then flew back to the book, which she immediately reopened. "That's all he said?" she asked as Harry sat down.

"Yea," Harry murmured, running a hand through his hair.

"Nothing else?"

"No," Harry lied again, feeling very low for lying, even if it was for a good cause.

"He's not a very deep person," Hermione said to herself as much as to Harry

"I wouldn't say that," Harry said, feeling even more culpable.

Hermione felt tears spring to her eyes, grateful that she could hide behind her book. "I would."

She buried her face even deeper into the old, yellowed pages and hardly noticed when Harry sighed and left the room.

**Author's Note: I'm extremely sorry for the short chapter, but I will make it up to you by posting this and three others. Please review.**


	13. Feeling Bitter Feelings

**A/N: Chapter Thirteen has arrived. Please R&R.**

**13**

Feeling Bitter Feelings

Draco still sat in the courtyard. His lips tingled slightly from their earlier contact with Hermione's. He was mildly sad about the way Hermione had run off so quickly. He had tried to get her to stay, but she was so very obstinate about going back to Gryffindor Tower.

"You would almost think that she had to get back to someone instead of having to get back to somewhere," Draco said with a small amount of bitterness in his voice. He had seen the look of surprise-disappointment maybe-in her eyes when she had opened them to see him.

Draco felt his stomach turn over. He hated doing this to himself. He was changing completely. He had gone from hating a girl to being mad about her, from being a creep to being a decent person, from wearing his hair back all the time to wearing it down and in his face. He had made so many drastic changes in order to make Hermione feel something for him, and he still wasn't sure if she even liked him.

He heard someone coming toward him and looked up to see one of the people he never enjoyed seeing. "Potter," he said, narrowing his eyes.

"Malfoy," Harry replied, keeping his gaze hard but compromising, "I wasn't looking for you, but here you are. We need to talk."

Draco raised an eyebrow. "Talk then."

"You know how much I hate the idea of you and Hermione . . . together," Harry began, taking a deep breath.

Draco smirked. "Enough to tell hopeless lies," he said.

Harry glared at him. "Hermione says you're not that bad of a guy. Ron and I beg to differ."

"I'm not surprised. Of course, Weasel has such an obvious obsession with Hermione that he would _have_ to hope that I'm a horrible person."

"How can you call Hermione a mudblood one year and seem to have feelings for her the next, Malfoy? It makes no sense, and I don't buy it."

Draco sighed. He had known his past behavior was going to come up in the conversation eventually, but he still felt unprepared as it did. "Potter," he started, looking out across the courtyard, "I don't see why you care so much about this. It's just a fling, after all," he said tactlessly. He knew it wasn't a fling. He knew he couldn't drop Hermione like he had Pansy. Somehow, though, telling Potter that it wouldn't last made more sense that telling him the truth.

Harry clenched his fists at his sides. "You mean to tell me that this is just a relationship for your enjoyment?" he asked, enraged.

"It sounds a lot harsher when you put it that way," Draco said, smirking again.

"If you hurt her-"

"Ubp," Draco put up a hand to stop Harry, "No one said anything about hurting anyone."

"You just said-"

"Potter, you misunderstand me so easily. I said it was just a fling. That doesn't mean anyone will be hurt by the end of it all," Draco said. He couldn't believe he was saying all of this as if he meant to end his relationship with Hermione. "Surely she knows it means nothing."

Harry stood rigid. "Hermione is far too smart to get involved in a short-term relationship," he said.

"You think much too highly of your friend," Draco stated calmly. He wanted to clap his hand over his mouth and beat himself. Why was he saying all of this? Surely, Potter would tell Hermione.

"What did you say?"

Draco smiled viciously. 'Don't do it,' he told himself. "You heard me, Potter."

"Malfoy, do you even care about Hermione?" Harry asked, shaking.

Draco looked up at the sky, daring himself to tell Potter the truth. "If I did, why would I tell you?" he asked instead.

Harry whipped out his wand, aiming it directly at Draco's throat. "To keep me from killing you," he whispered sadistically.

Draco saw someone coming out of the corner of his eye, thanking the stars for his luck. He forced himself to seem helpless, quickly tossing his wand to the side.

"Mr. Potter," a voice drawled from behind Harry.

Harry lowered his wand slowly and turned, cringing. "Professor Snape," he muttered.

"You are aware that there is to be no magic done outside the classrooms; are you not?" Professor Snape went on, and Harry could tell that he was calculating the amount of points that he was going to take from Gryffindor.

"Yes, Professor."

"You are also aware that magic is not to be performed on other students unless you are directed to do so by a teacher; correct?"

Harry nodded.

"You have also been informed that you are not to cringe as you turn to look at your teachers; have you not?"

Harry was sure that Snape had made the last offence up off the top of his head. "Actually-"

"Good. Seventy-three and a half points from Gryffindor. You should be glad I'm not giving you detention," Snape said, glancing around Harry at Draco who put on a fake look of relief, "Mr. Malfoy, come with me," Snape said, beginning to walk away.

Draco grabbed his wand off the ground and hurried after his Professor.

**A/N: Do you forgive me yet? Please review.**


	14. A Million Bloody Noses

**A/N: Chapter Fourteen, here and ready to be read. Please R&R.**

**14**

A Million Bloody Noses

Professor Snape walked briskly, and Draco nearly had to jog to keep up with him. "Is there something you wanted, Professor?"

"I expected much better of you," Snape said simply.

Draco was stumped. "I didn't do any magic, Professor."

Snape sighed. "I wasn't talking about that," he snapped.

"Huh?"

Snape opened the door to an empty classroom, and Draco stopped in front of it.

"Go in," Snape barked.

Draco reluctantly entered the room and stood. Snape closed the door quickly, and Draco looked around. The room was extremely dark, and Snape made no move to turn the lights on. Draco was beginning to get the feeling that he wasn't _just_ Snape's favorite student. Maybe he was his fantasy.

Draco flinched as the professor put a hand on his shoulder, pushing him forward. His knees hit a chair, and his teacher let go of him. "Sit."

Draco sat obediently, feeling extremely uncomfortable, nervous, and mildly sick. He heard Snape walk back to the other side of the room. The lights came on, and Draco found himself sitting in a chair straight across from a man he knew didn't want to be there, a man he knew had important business to attend to elsewhere, a man who followed the Dark Lord as though he hadn't a choice, a man Draco knew as his father.

"F-Father," Draco stuttered.

"Draco," Lucius Malfoy hissed with narrowed eyes, "You know why I'm here."

Draco shook his head. "No, Father, I don't know."

"Boy, don't you lie to me!" Lucius growled.

"I'm not," Draco said, hoping his father wouldn't lash out at him in anger.

Lucius sighed. "I was hoping this would be easier than you are making it, Draco. I don't want to hurt you, but I will."

Draco looked back to where Snape had last been, but his professor had left.

"Look at me, boy!" Draco's attention flew back to his father. "You know that mudbloods are filthy things. You _know_ that," Lucius began, and Draco knew instantly that his father was there because of Hermione. "Severus was kind enough to let me know what type of . . . beast you have been creating a relationship with. I want to know if he was lying."

Draco desperately wanted to say that Professor Snape was a dirty liar, but the cold, penetrating stare that his father gave him left no choice but to tell the truth. "He wasn't, Father."

Lucius seemed to control his temper for a second or two, but Draco soon felt the sting of a cruel hand across his face. There was a loud _woosh_, and Lucius was gone, leaving Draco with a bloody nose and an unsure conscience.

He stood up, using his robes to contain the blood. 'Everyone hates the idea of me being with the one person I'm crazy about. They're all wrong, and I'd take a million bloody noses for Hermione to feel the same.'

**A/N:If you didn't forgive me in the last chapter,do you forgive me now? Please review.**


	15. The Next Step

**A/N: Please R&R.**

**15**

The Next Step

Ron stood in front of the window, contemplating how painful it would be if he jumped and didn't die. He paced for a moment or two then stopped and began staring out the window again. "If I were to jump far enough, maybe the wind would blow me into the lake, and they wouldn't be able to find me," he said, seriously considering taking the plunge. He knew that he wouldn't do it though. How could he when he knew how much he might hurt Hermione? Even if she only loved him as a friend.

Ron shook his head. He was tearing himself apart in every way. He knew he couldn't do this much longer. Too much more of this torture, and he just might stop caring how much it might hurt others if he jumped.

"Ron," Hermione's voice suddenly said.

Ron looked up and around before finally realising that the voice was coming from inside his head.

'Ronald, you'd better answer me,' Hermione snapped.

Ron sighed. 'I'm here. What do you want?'

'I want to know what your problem is, Ron. You've been acting very strange lately. I'm getting worried.'

Ron felt a pain in his gut as his stomach knotted itself up and then fussed about trying to get the knot undone. 'Didn't Harry tell you?'

' "You're overwhelmed."? Ron, that explains nothing. Tell me how you _really_ feel."

The knot that had just been untied was wound up again but this time, didn't go away. He couldn't think of anything to say, or think rather, to Hermione. There was nothing he _could_ say that wouldn't make him seem like a complete oaf, so he decided that a nice change of subject would suit him just fine. 'We've moved past eye contact," he thought.

Hermione didn't reply for a while. 'I suppose we have.'

Harry entered the boys' dormitories just then. "Ron, you'd never believe . . . You all right?"

Ron snapped into reality and looked Harry in the eye. "Just fine. What wouldn't I believe?"

"Malfoy thinks of his relationship with Hermione as a fling," Harry said.

Ron gaped, though he could and did believe it. "Why wouldn't I believe that? Malfoy's a prat."

"We should tell Hermione; right?" Harry asked.

Ron shook his head. "You know she wouldn't believe us if we did," he said, a melancholy frown spreading over his countenance.

Harry nodded. "You're right, but we have to do something."

"Malfoy usually does what he aims to. I don't think there is anything we c_a_n do this time."

"I'll think of something," Harry said, biting his lip in uncertainty.

'Ron, are you still there?' Hermione asked.

Ron frowned. 'Yes.'

Harry watched Ron's gaze became vacant and inward. He decided not to ask and hurried back down the stairs.

Hermione was sitting on the sofa, staring blankly at her open book. What was going on? Everyone seemed to be staring at nothing in particular.

Harry shook his head and began to go for the portrait hole. He swung it open to see Draco running towards him, bleeding profusely from the nose.

"Let me in, Potter," he commanded.

Harry made no move to unblock the entrance. "Hermione," he called instead, "you've got a visitor."

Hermione glanced up from her book. 'Draco's here, Ron,' she thought and blocked her mind. She jumped up and hurried to get to Draco. She gasped at his dishevelled appearance. "Harry, let him in," she ordered.

Harry shook his head. "He can stay out there," he said.

"Harry," Hermione warned.

Harry sighed. "Students from other houses aren't allowed in the Gryffindor common room."

"Harry, he's bleeding."

Draco shook his head. "I'll stay out. I've got to get to the hospital wing anyway," he said, turning away.

"Harry, look what you've done," Hermione said, rushing past Harry huffily.

Ron came running down the staircase at that moment. He took one look at Harry, who was standing in the portrait hole with his arms crossed, and realised that he was far too late to say anything more to Hermione.

Harry turned and saw him. "She doesn't even realise that he's got an ulterior motive," he sighed.

Ron nodded. "There are a lot of things she doesn't notice . . . Are you up for a game of wizard chess?"

Harry shrugged, and he and Ron sat down to play.

**A/N: Please review.**


	16. Flying

**Author's Note: Hi again. I'm so super duper happy that I'm over my writer's block. I'm so glad to be back in "the flow"! It's stellar, which is my new word. Anyway, please R&R.**

**16**

Flying

Hermione walked next to Draco, grimacing as he attempted to clean up his nose. "Do you think it's broken?" he asked.

Hermione looked at him analytically and shook her head. "I doubt it, but you've got quite a bruise spreading across your face there. What happened?"

"Run-in with my father," Draco said simply.

"Why would he be here? I thought he was busy with . . . work."

"He doesn't like you."

"Because I'm . . ."

"Not a pureblood."

"But why does it matter?"

Draco shrugged. "I don't know . . . but it does. It seems like everyone is against you and me. I don't see why they can't understand."

"I don't even think _I_ understand. You've changed so much . . . It's shocking."

"For the better?" Draco asked.

Hermione nodded. "For the better."

When the pair reached the hospital wing, Madame Pomfrey tutted at the state of Draco's face and kept shooting suspicious glances at Hermione. "Where're Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley, m' dear?" she asked kindly.

"In the common room, I suppose," Hermione said.

"Why aren't you with them as you always are?"

"I-"

"Prefect duties. She had to bring me here because . . . I was injured," Draco lied hastily.

Madame Pomfrey nodded, unaware that the statement made no sense. She smiled after she had finished with Draco and patted him on the arm. "All done, dearie," she said sweetly.

Draco and Hermione left the hospital wing.

"Is it just me," Draco said, "or has Madame Pomfrey gotten a little bit . . . stupider?"

Hermione nudged him in a scolding manner. "Draco, be nice. She's aging. It was inevitable that she would lose her hard veneer."

Draco shrugged. "Just wondering," he said, feigning innocence.

Hermione grinned against her will. "What do you want to do?" she asked.

"Do you know how to fly?"

Hermione laughed aloud. "Excuse me?"

"On a broom, I meant."

"Oh . . ." Hermione blushed. She had always been good at nearly everything, but flying was far from something she could even manage without potentially endangering herself. "I'm not . . . I've never really . . ." She smiled self-consciously. "No, I don't know how to fly."

Draco beamed. "Shall I teach you?"

Hermione stared at him, wide-eyed. "I don't know. I've never really been comfortable with fly-" It was too late; Draco had already grabbed her hand and was pulling her towards the Quidditch pitch.

They reached the large field in due time, and Draco got two school brooms from the storage shack that was near the entrance. "We'll start out slow," he said, looking distastefully at the frequently used objects in his hands.

"Draco . . . this doesn't seem very safe," Hermione said quietly.

Draco laughed. "It's fine. I do it all the time. It's just a matter of hanging on tight."

"But, Draco, I couldn't even get my broom to come up to my hand in first year."

"Who says you haven't improved since then?"

Hermione sighed. "Must I learn to fly?"

Draco stared at her quietly. "Do you trust me?" he asked suddenly.

Hermione bit her lip. She wasn't quite sure. After all, he had gone in less than a month from a tormenting, sly worm to a somewhat kind, less tormenting Slytherin boy. "I-I don't know," she said, shying away from his gaze.

Draco nodded as if he understood. "I know what you mean. I trust you," he said, "so I'm going to hope that you can trust me for just a short while. Then, you can go back to being slightly suspicious of my motives."

Hermione pondered this for a moment. "What if I fall?"

"We won't go too far off the ground."

Hermione screwed up her face in concentration, trying desperately to make a decision. "Fine," she sighed.

Draco grinned from ear to ear. "All right then!" he said enthusiastically, "Let's begin!"

He first taught Hermione how to properly mount her broom, claiming that she was doing it all wrong. "That's exactly how I used to put my hands. They're too close together. Spread them out," he said, taking her hands and putting them where they should have been on the broom.

He mounted his own broom and pushed his feet up and off the ground. "Did you see that?" he asked.

"No, I was looking over there," Hermione quipped, "Could you do it again please?"

Draco smiled. He repeated the movement as if she had been serious and looked over at her. "Go ahead," he said.

"But-"

"You won't be far from the ground. Just push up with your feet."

Hermione took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and pushed up. She half-expected her feet to touch the ground again, but they didn't.

"Excellent!" Draco exclaimed, "You have mastered the art of hovering!"

Hermione opened her eyes and looked down. She was floating! It wasn't quite like it had been her first time when she had gone a mere foot off the ground then panicked and dropped down again. "Draco . . ." she breathed.

"Yes?"

"How do I get down?" she asked, smiling weakly.

Draco laughed. "And I thought you remembered everything," he said, "Just lean forward."

Hermione did as Draco had said and sighed in relief as her feet touched the ground. Draco followed her lead. "Now, that wasn't so bad, was it?" he said, giving her a quick peck on the cheek.

Hermione smiled. "I suppose not," she agreed.

"Ready for another go?" Draco asked, hopping onto his broom again.

Hermione nodded reluctantly and went through the motions. She soon found herself in the air again. "Now what?"

"_Now_ we fly."

Hermione gulped.

"Don't worry; we won't go any higher than this for now," Draco assured her, allowing his broom to drift towards hers.

"Right . . . So, um, how do I go about it? Moving on this thing, I mean."

"Well it's sort of a combination of tilting your broom up a ways and leaning forward at the same time," Draco said.

Hermione tried to do that but found that the two actions combined cancelled each other out and she ended up in relatively the same place as before.

"Draco . . . it's not working," she said.

"I can see that . . . Maybe it would be easier if we were to share a broom," Draco offered.

"Share a broom?" Hermione asked sceptically, "Are you sure one broom would hold us both?"

"Positive," Draco said, dismounting and taking his broom back to the storage area. When he returned, Hermione was on the ground again, staring out at the field with the broom in her hand.

Draco came up be hind her and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind. "Ready for another go?" he asked her, resting his head on her shoulder.

Hermione nodded with as much reluctance as she had the first time he had asked her that question. She mounted the broom, and Draco got on behind her, putting his arms around he in order to reach the front of the broomstick. "Comfortable?" he asked. Hermione shook her head.

Draco laughed and kicked off after making sure that everyone was holding on tight. They rose higher and higher, and Hermione became more and more tense. "Draco, don't go any higher," she said, looking down and feeling a sinking feeling in her stomach; they were at least thirty feet off the ground.

Draco stopped rising and began to fly around the stadium, and Hermione began to get used to the swooping feeling she got in her solar plexus whenever he decided to take a dive or fly a bit higher.

**Author's Note:** **Please please PLEASE review! It would be totoally stellar if you did! **


	17. Dark Magic

**A/N: Please read and review.**

**17**

Dark Magic

Minerva McGonagall hardly expected to see the man she did walk into her office and announce that they "needed to talk". She put down her quill and looked up at him. "Well then, Severus, get on with it. I haven't got all day," she snapped. In fact, she _did_ have all day, but considering that she never liked to take a break from her job or talk to Severus Snape, she would have truly preferred creating a lesson plan for the next year to spending the day conversing with one of the only people she couldn't stand.

"I have reason to believe that one of your students is trying to . . . seduce one of my students," Severus stated.

Minerva peered over her spectacles at him. "Which students might you be referring to?" she asked.

"Miss Granger and Draco Malfoy," Snape said bitterly, "Granger is _obviously_ using . . . _dark_ magic to trick one of my best students into getting points taken away from his own house."

Minerva cleared her throat. "Severus, I am aware that you are suspicious of any fraternization my students have with yours, but I must inform you that Miss Granger is one of the most honest and hard-working students in her year. I am certain that she would not go so low as to deliberately 'seduce' a Slytherin boy just to get him to indirectly lower the score of his house's points. I am afraid that your concerns are unfounded and a trifle ridiculous."

Severus gave her a withering stare and turned to leave. "I'm sure Lucius will put an end to the relationship soon enough anyway," he muttered, grinning triumphantly.

McGonagall rose to her feet. "Severus, you wouldn't dare-"

"What could I do otherwise? I knew you would not side with me in my valid argument."

"Albus will be hearing of this. You can be certain about that," Minerva spat, "If Miss Granger is harmed in any way, _you_ will be to blame."

Snape shrugged. "So be it," he said and left the room.

Minerva was left in her office, nearly shaking with fury. Snape knew what kind of a person Lucius Malfoy was. Would he seriously go out of his way to involve him in the "problem", even when his actions could endanger the welfare of one of the students?

"Severus, you cold creature. If something happens, your name will be printed all over it," she groused to herself. She sat down and took up her quill, pulling out a blank bit of parchment.

_Albus Dumbledore,_

_I am afraid that Severus Snape has done something that might endanger one of our students. Please stop by my office._

_Minerva McGonagall _

Minerva quickly tied the letter to her owl's leg, muttered a few gentle words to the bird, and sent it off towards Dumbledore's office.

**A/N: Please review. 'Twould be stellar.**


	18. Events Such as Spilling and Attack

**A/N: YES! I finished! In order to get it all posted though, this will be the last author's note I will write until the endof final chapter. Drat!I can't go to the midnight thing! Oh well . . . THE MORNING WILL COME! . . . eventually. Please R&R.**

**18**

Events Such as Spilling and Attack

Harry and Ron finished a few games of wizard chess before they became bored and wandered over to the fire.

"So," Ron began casually, propping his feet up on the coffee table, "did you ask Luna?"

Harry nodded. "She said, 'Yes.'. She said she didn't want to dance though, but we already knew she didn't like dancing."

Ron nodded, recalling the day he had first met Luna, and she had brought up how he had gone to the Yule Ball with Padma Patil.

There was a moment of silence, only broken by the squeaking of stairs as Ginny came down from the girls' dormitories. "Ron, Harry," she greeted them, yawning slightly. She walked over to the boys and sat down in the chair across from Ron.

"Anyone invite you to the Graduation Ball?" Ron asked her.

"Yes . . . but I'm rather disappointed, you know. I had thought that more than one seventh year boy would have invited me to go with them, but only one did," Ginny replied, looking a bit downtrodden.

Ron looked at her critically. "Who asked you?"

Ginny blushed. "Neville did . . . before the end of the term."

Ron burst out in laughter, causing Ginny to glare at him. "I bet you haven't even got a date," she snapped.

Ron's laughter died down, and the smile fell from his face. "You lose that bet then. I do have a date, even ask Harry."

Harry nodded on cue, and Ginny eyed Ron suspiciously. "Who then?"

"Cho."

"_Cho Chang_? You have _got_ to be kidding me! She's not stupid enough to go to the ball with _you_!" Ginny said, giggling at her own joke.

"Well, she said she would, and _I_ would not consider that being stupid."

Ginny snorted, and Harry couldn't help but grin.

Ron smiled too, though he couldn't get his current issue out of his mind.

There was a tap at the portrait hole, and Harry sprung up from the sofa he had been sitting in. Ron regarded him with raised eyebrows.

"I'm expecting someone," Harry explained simply as he walked to the portrait.

The portrait swung back to reveal Luna, who was grinning broadly. To Ron, it seemed that her eyes had gotten even larger than they had been the last time he had seen her. He glanced at Ginny as her smile vanished. She waved curtly to her friend, forcing the smile to reappear.

"Bye," Harry said and closed the door behind him as he left.

Ginny put her head in her hands. Ron ogled at her. "Spill," he said.

Ginny looked up. "Why couldn't Harry have asked _me_ to go to the ball with him? I've been trying to get him to notice me as more than his best friend's sister for the longest time, but he doesn't take any of the hints! He hardly even talks to me," she said, tears welling up in her eyes.

Ron stared at his sister. He was a bit shocked that she fancied his best friend, though he didn't mind all that much, but more so, he felt sorry for her. "Gin," he began, knowing exactly how his little sister felt and wishing he could make her pain go away, "don't let it get to you. You'll find somebody else. I mean, _Neville's_ a great guy," he said, trying to be a bit humorous with his last statement. It didn't work.

"How do you know I'll find someone else? Have _you_ found someone else?"

Ron gaped at Ginny. "Wha-"

"Oh, don't tell me you didn't know that I knew," Ginny said, "Actually, it was an accident," she admitted, turning red, "I was using some of Fred and George's extendable ear things, and I overheard you yelling at Harry."

Ron was shocked and appalled, but somehow, he couldn't be angry with his sister, though he did have one question for her. "What were you _trying_ to listen to?" he asked.

"Well, you know how I said Harry never talks to me," Ginny said, blushing even more, "I was just trying to listen to his voice."

Ron raised an eyebrow. "Gin, that's a bit scary . . . I can't believe you heard. Did you hear all of it?" Ginny nodded. "So you know everything?"

Ginny nodded again. "I can't believe Hermione would go out with that prat," she said, "He's totally not good enough for her."

"I know," Ron said, "and I can't believe Harry would go out with Luna. She's obviously too freaky for him."

"The sad thing is," Ginny said, "I used to consider her my friend . . . I guess I still do."

"The sad thing about Draco is, I always hated him."

Ginny chuckled wanly. "We're sad people, Ron," she said.

"Well, at least we have each other."

"_Great_," Ginny said mock-sarcastically, "I should be going to the library," she announced, "I'll see you later."

Ron nodded, and Ginny went back up to the girls' dormitories to get her book bag. She came back down and left.

Ron sat in silence, thinking about how unfair it was that he and Ginny had to go through this type of torture. He was sure that they deserved better. Heck, _anyone_ deserved better things than Malfoy.

Ron slammed his fist on the arm of his chair angrily. "I never did anything wrong! I DON'T DESERVE THIS!" he yelled, standing up. He began judging the windows again, contemplating death. He looked away, shaking his head. "She's driving me mad," he said to himself, laughing feebly, "What have I gotten myself into?"

Crookshanks entered the room suddenly, prancing out of the girls' dormitories. He observed Ron with a critical eye as if to say, "What _is_ your problem, boy? You need to get a grip."

Ron glared at the cat. "_WHAT_?"

Crookshanks seemed to smirk at him, taking on a look that reminded him too much of Malfoy. He took a few steps closer to Ron, still smirking.

Ron backed up, his legs hitting the table behind him. "Back off, cat," he growled.

Crookshanks took one leap and was up on the back of the chair that Ron had been sitting in before, his squashed face still contorted in a wicked grin.

"Cat," Ron said, backing up more, "I am warning you. Hermione might come back to find a dead cat in the common room if you keep this up."

The cat made himself comfortable on the back of the chair, stretching out in a way that said to Ron, "Why are you afraid of me? I am just a stupid cat, after all."

Ron shook his head and plopped down in the chair across from where he had been sitting. Crookshanks looked at him, and spontaneously made the bound and covered the distance in between them. He landed on Ron's chest, purring loudly.

Ron tried to push him off, but, much as he had done to Sirius in third year, Crookshanks had dug his claws into Ron's knit jumper. "Would you get _off_?" Ron asked, exasperated.

Crookshanks merely purred louder and began to knead Ron's stomach.

Ron could hardly breathe, seeing as Crookshanks was a rather massive cat, and the claws poking into his flesh were far from relaxing. "Crookshanks, you fat beast, get the bloody hell _off_ me!" Ron exclaimed, with a last, weak push at the ginger-haired cat, who didn't budge. "Fine," Ron said, "I'll just wait until you leave." Crookshanks seemed more than satisfied with this conclusion as he began purring even louder.

It seemed like forever and longer before someone entered the common room. "Ron?" Hermione's voice called.

Ron heard her walk towards him and gasp. "Oh! Crookshanks, get off!" she cried, tugging at her huge pet, "Ron, don't be angry. He's just a cat. I-"

"Hermione, just get that beast off me," Ron said impatiently.

Hermione shut her mouth tightly and sat down on the arm of Ron's chair, working each of her cat's claws from Ron's clothing. Ron tried not to notice how close she was sitting to him or how her hand touched his chest when she worked at the claws or how she seemed genuinely worried that he would be mad at her for what had happened. The truth was, he was angry, but not really. He couldn't use anger to cover up his feelings at this point, but he could try.

Hermione got Crookshank's last claw undone and heaved him off Ron, staggering away from him. She took the cat up to the girls' dormitories.

Ron sat up, picking ginger hairs off his jumper. He pursed his lips, trying to be angry with Hermione. He listed the reasons in his head: 'She's a know it all; she loves that stupid cat; she loves Malfoy; and she doesn't let me copy her homework.'

"Ron, are you angry?" Hermione asked tepidly when she got back from taking her cat away.

Ron scowled. "I've told you _countless_ times to get rid of that . . . _thing_, and you _never_ listen. It's like you _want_ me to be mad at you!" Ron exclaimed, glaring the hairs in his hands, "I'm bloody covered in that beast's hair," he grumbled, trying not to lose his angry tone.

Hermione crossed her arms. "You know I can't get rid of Crookshanks," she said, "How would you feel if I asked you to get rid of Pigwidgeon?"

Ron looked up at Hermione skeptically. "That owl drives me nuts. I would be fine, but Pig never does anything to other people except make them giggle insanely. I don't see why you would want me to get rid of him," he said coolly.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "You know what I meant, Ronald."

Ron shrugged.

"What is your _problem_, Ron? You've been acting so different lately, I can barely tell it's you anymore! Is it because I'm going to the ball with Draco? I'm sorry if you don't like him, but it doesn't seem like you approve of anyone who likes me for who I am."

Ron sighed. "I can assure you that Malfoy doesn't like you for who you are. And, for your information, I'm not the only one that has changed lately. The Hermione I used to know wouldn't have been wandering about with a jerk like Malfoy over the holidays. She would have been studying for the exams that are months away. What happened to her?"

Hermione opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out.

"Maybe we're all just drifting away from what we used to know," Ron continued, "I mean, Harry's hardly around either. It seems like I'm the only one that still does what I used to."

"You make it sound like we're abandoning you," Hermione said curtly.

Ron shrugged again. "Maybe you are. I wouldn't know. You're gone so much, I don't even recognize you." That was a bit of an exaggeration, especially since he couldn't forget Hermione's face if he wanted to.

Hermione glared at him. "It wouldn't be a surprise that we would be drifting away from you, if we were. You're such a prat sometimes, I can hardly stand it!" she exclaimed, and she turned and left the room, heading up to the girls' dormitories.

Ron sat in his chair, feeling duly scathed. "You deserved that, you git," he said to himself.


	19. Dead Grass

**19**

Dead Grass

Ginny walked out of the library. She had gotten next to nothing done and made her leave feeling lonely, irritable, and useless. She put the papers back in her bag, and glanced up, getting ready to close the flap, but when she saw Harry and Luna walking towards her, she pretended to be rummaging in her pack again.

Luna saw her glance up and then hurriedly look away. "Ginny," she called, wondering what that had been about.

Ginny looked up as if she hadn't noticed Luna and Harry before. "Oh, hi, Luna, Harry," she said, forcing a smile to her lips.

Harry looked so . . . happy. She couldn't ruin this for him, but Luna had practically dragged him to a stop in front of her. Where had they been headed anyway?

On cue, Luna said, "Harry and I are going to the lake for a bit of squid-watching," she said, "Care to come?"

"Oh no, I couldn't," Ginny said, hoping she wouldn't be pressured any further.

Luna laughed, her orb-like eyes glinting merrily. "Of course you could. Come along before I jinx you," she said, and Ginny couldn't tell whether she was joking or not.

"I don't want to intrude," Ginny said, and Luna guffawed.

"Intrude on what? Everyone is welcome to come watch the squid with us, if they like."

Harry looked ready to open his mouth and say something, but he merely looked at Ginny expectantly.

Ginny shoved back a sigh. "Well, all right then. As long as you're okay with it," she said.

Luna laughed again. She seemed to be in a mood that made most everything said funny. She pulled her wand out of from behind her ear and muttered something. Three Hydro-Beast Scopes shot out of her wand and floated in midair in front of her. The Hydro-Beast Scopes, or Hydro Scopes as some called them, looked somewhat like telescopes but instead of having one view hole at the end, the shaft branched off into two. "Nifty," Luna muttered, grabbing one and tapping her wand to it, uttering another spell. She re-tucked her wand behind her ear and grinned at Ginny. She looked at her through the scope, frowning as a green-blue haze consumed her friend. 'Sadness and jealousy?" she thought, looking away and putting the Hydro Spot into her pocket. "Take one each," she directed when she noticed that neither of her friends had made a move to grab a scope from the air.

Harry did as she said and put a Hydro Scope in his pocket. Ginny eventually followed suit, and the trio was off.

Ginny felt like a fifth wheel being dragged along at the back of the procession of wheels that were meant to be there. She lagged behind, staring as Luna deliberately laced her fingers with Harry's. Of course, what was she supposed to do? She was his girlfriend, after all.

Luna glanced back at her. "Do keep up, Ginerva," she said. Ginny could have sworn Luna had looked at where her gaze had fallen to and nodded at her, but maybe it was just paranoia sending her mind into a state of hallucination.

The pair and their fifth wheel reached the lake in due time and situated themselves under a tree. Luna leaned on Harry's shoulder, looking out at the squid with her scope. Occasionally, she would look over at Ginny with it, and Ginny would hurriedly pretend that she had been looking out at the lake the entire time and had not been glancing ever so enviously at her friend and her crush.

Ginny couldn't take it anymore. It almost seemed like Luna would do something like whisper something into Harry's ear and then look at her just to see a reaction. Did she know, or was she telling Harry things about her? Once, Luna had giggled uncharacteristically at something Harry had said and had kissed him on the cheek. Not a second after, she had looked at Ginny and asked her how she was getting along and how she was enjoying the show. Ginny assumed she meant the squid, but in her mind, it registered as the couple's display of affection.

Before she could do anything, Luna scooted away from Harry and wrapped her arms around her knees, which she had pulled up to her chest. "So, Ginny," she began as Harry got up to skip stones on the lake's surface, "Harry tells me that you're going with Neville to the ball?"

Ginny nodded. "Oh, yes. I don't know why though. I learned in third year that he can't dance worth a Knut."

Luna chewed on this. "Well, he is nice though. Maybe you're going with him because of that."

"Is that why you're going with Harry?" Ginny blurted, not intending to say what she had.

Luna kept her face straight, her orbs flashing with an unreadable emotion. "Yes," she murmured, "He can't skip rocks worth a dead muskrat, though," she added, smiling as Harry accidentally chucked a rock into the water with a small splash.

Ginny chuckled. "No, I suppose not."

"Shall we show him how it's done?" Luna asked.

"I can't skip either," Ginny admitted.

Luna stood and pulled Ginny up too. "I guess I'll be showing the both of you how it's done then," she said. It was quite odd the Luna had placed Ginny in between Harry and herself.

So it was that the pair and the extra wheel skipped-mostly chucked-rocks for quite a long time. None of them realized how odd it was that even though the cold of winter had come, the lake had remained as wet as it was during the spring. It also didn't occur to them how uncharacteristically warm it was; they didn't even need winter robes outside. Only in the morning did they find any need for that type of extra warmth. Even if they had noticed, though they would have just shrugged it off as climatic changes. Anyone would have.

Ginny was having an amazingly good time with her two friends. She laughed when they did, and was thoroughly enjoying herself, but she got tired of standing for so long and sat down on the ground, laying back in the dead grass.

Luna pursued this task, and Harry did too soon after. Ginny couldn't help but notice how close Harry was to her. She could almost feel his body heat emanating from his flesh. She felt that pang of nervousness and anxiety rise in her again and her heartbeat quickened.

Luna laughed suddenly. "You two couldn't skip rocks if someone paid you," she said, basking in her triumph.

Ginny looked at her, mostly to keep herself from looking at Harry. "I _told_ you I couldn't skip rocks," she complained.

Harry laughed.

Ginny felt her cheeks warming as his genuine laughter engulfed her mind. She focused on the overcast sky, watching the mind numbing swirls of clouds that would hopefully bring snow for the ball. She glanced at Luna to find her staring at the clouds too. She briefly wondered what was on her mind.

Harry looked at Ginny. Her red hair was spread out on the grass beneath her head, and her cheeks were tinged with pink. She was looking at the clouds. Harry looked away quickly. He couldn't be checking her out, for that was what he had been doing. He had a girlfriend, for cripes sakes. He sat up and looked over at Luna. Somehow, she wouldn't have officially registered as attractive. Though her hair was long and blonde and she was far from fat, she had many flaws in the way of looks, the most crucial being her huge eyes; they had never seemed to fit her. Another thing was her definite twig-like appearance; she was skinny, nearly _too_ skinny. Harry had never cared about appearance though when it came to people, excluding Cho. What mattered to him was the personality of the person. Luna had a great personality, an insane one, yes, but a great one none-the-less.

Harry smiled, but he suddenly felt hungry. It was then that he remembered that it was still before eight o'clock and he hadn't had breakfast. It was the holidays, and he was supposed to be sleeping in, yet he was up at the crack of dawn.

"What do you two say to getting some breakfast?" he asked, beginning to get up.

"Sure," Ginny said, but if she had known that Luna was going to refuse the suggestion, she would have done so as well.

Luna smiled in the dreamy way she always did. "You two go up without me. The clouds have captivated me," she said, folding her arms behind her head.

Harry helped Ginny up and then burst into laughter at the appearance of the back of her shirt; it was covered in dead grass.

Ginny grinned wanly. "Luna could you help get this grass off?" she asked, knowing she couldn't do it by herself.

Luna responded only by humming a tune to herself.

Harry looked at his girlfriend, and shrugged. "I'll do it, if you want," he proposed.

Actually, Ginny _did_ want. She wanted very much, but she knew that things would only get worse if she gave in to her wants. She was shocked at herself when she shrugged in acceptance to Harry's offer.

Harry began brushing the grass off, and no matter how hard Ginny tried to ignore it, she couldn't stop the fluttering in her stomach or the rapid acceleration of her heartbeat. She almost gasped as his hand went to her lower back to brush off the debris there. He didn't dare go any lower, she hoped, and thankfully, his hand only went a small distance below where it had been and then recoiled.

"All done," Harry said.

"Thanks," Ginny said quietly, feeling quite scandalized, though she knew Harry had meant no harm or offence.

Harry turned and began up the hill as Ginny grabbed her bag from under the bald tree and hurried to catch up with him.

They had gone halfway to the castle in silence when Ginny decided to look back at Luna and could have sworn Luna had her Hydro Scope out and was looking at them through it.


	20. An Area of Secrets

**20**

An Area of Secrets

Ron was sitting in the Great Hall, chewing despondently on a piece of toast when his sister and Harry entered, having what seemed to be an interesting conversation. He looked behind them. No Luna.

"Hey, Ron," Harry said.

Ron just nodded in acknowledgement, not feeling like talking with his mouth full as he usually did. He swallowed his food and took a swig of orange juice. "Where's Loony?" he asked, glancing at Ginny discreetly.

"The clouds captivated her," Harry replied.

Ron gave him a look of concern and took another bite of toast, shoving the rest of it, which was more than half a slice, into his mouth.

He saw Hermione coming, with a book under her arm, out of the corner of his eye.

"So," Harry said, "Ginny told me that you told her about your issue with Her-"

Ron swallowed quickly, however painful it was, for Hermione was within hearing distance of the conversation. "Mother," he interrupted Harry, "Yes, her mother is a _very_ and unpleasant woman."

Harry suddenly spotted Hermione and realised his near mistake. He gave Ron a look of apology.

Hermione sat down and everyone was silent. The small area had secrets, neither of which she knew of.

Harry was the first to speak, though very reluctantly. "Hi, Hermione," he said simply.

Hermione looked up and smiled. "Hello, Harry," she said, opening her book.

"Here to read us some stories?" he asked.

Hermione shrugged. She didn't have anything to say to either of her friends. She would talk to Ginny if the chance arose, but Ginny seemed neither interested in talking nor able to since she had taken to eating a breakfast meat of some sort.

Ron decided he was finished and left the Great Hall. Hermione focused on the pages of her book, not wanting to admit that she was mad at herself for being a pain.

Harry glanced at her, but Luna entered, and he was drawn to the Ravenclaw table.

Ginny looked at Hermione expectantly. "I wonder what that was all about," she said, hoping to draw Hermione into a conversation.

"Pardon? What, _what_ was all about?"

Ginny smirked into her napkin. "You know, Ron's immediate exit as soon as you sat down."

Hermione looked up at Ginny, giving her a look that said, "Who cares?" and she returned to her book.

Ginny finished her meal and left, making sure not to look at Harry and Luna as she walked out the door.


	21. More Events like Crying and Agreements

**21**

More Events Like Crying and Agreements

The day ebbed by slowly but surely, and students began re-arriving to prepare for the Graduation Ball. None of the Gryffindor students was due to arrive until the next morning.

Professor McGonagall's fears had been quelled by Dumbledore's insistence that she had nothing to worry about for the time being.

That evening, Hermione went to her usual session with Draco and came back to the common room feeling very horrible. She had hoped Harry would be sitting in a chair so she could talk to him about it, but there was only Ron. Hermione couldn't help it; she had to talk to someone. "Ron," she said faintly.

At the weak tone in her voice, Ron almost forgot that he was supposed to be angry with her, but he snapped back to reality and frigidly looked at her over the book of Quidditch techniques that Harry had loaned to him. "What?" he asked.

"I-I really need to talk to someone," Hermione said.

Ron looked at her indignantly. "Since when have you talked to me about your problems? You're usually running to Harry."

Hermione sighed. She should have known that Ron would act like this. "Ron, will you just listen? I really need to talk to someone, and Harry's not here," she said.

Ron was disgruntled at the thought of being a step-in friend, but he took a deep breath and shrugged, closing his book.

Hermione sat down, placing her bag in the chair to her left. She looked at Ron to find him staring at her in anticipation. "It's just . . . Draco has changed so much from when I first met him, and I don't know why he did it. It's so weird. He's like . . . someone other than Draco Malfoy," Hermione explained, feeling extremely odd telling this to Ron.

Ron nodded. "Like I said, we've all been changing."

Hermione felt tears spring to her eyes and looked away. "I don't know why everything has to be so different," she choked.

"It is quite painful to have everything . . . tweaked," Ron said, catching a glimpse of the tears in Hermione's eyes.

Hermione nodded. She was silent for a moment, but suddenly, she broke down and began sobbing uncontrollably.

Ron felt himself stand up and put his book down, telling himself not to do it, trying to force himself to keep his distance, but it was too late; he had already wrapped his arms around Hermione. He felt like an idiot, but he couldn't pull away now because she was already bawling on his shoulder.

Hermione loved the feel of Ron's embrace. It felt like she belonged there. She hadn't felt as safe in Draco's arms as she did there. She moved closer to Ron, knowing he was only doing this for her out of platonic love, but wishing that that would change.

Ron glanced at the clock and saw that it was extremely late. He didn't think that Harry wouldn't be coming back anytime soon, so he allowed himself to enjoy the closeness he felt toward Hermione. He hoped she couldn't tell how much he loved holding her like this.

Hermione's sobs died down to slightly exhausted whimpers and eventually were nothing more than muffled sniffles against Ron's chest. He knew his time with her in his arms would soon come to an end and felt his heart sink. Amazingly, Hermione made no move to pull away, so he didn't either.

Hermione was surprised that he hadn't pushed her away from him by this time. She relaxed slightly, feeling as though she could trust Ron not to let anything change while she was there with him. Ron shifted slightly, and Hermione felt a jolt of disappointment, assuming that he was going to move away from her, but he seemed to move closer. She was relieved.

Ron felt horrible because he knew that the overwhelming feeling of happiness that was rising in him was going to disappear as suddenly as it had come when

Hermione decided that she was comforted enough. He closed his eyes, trying to enjoy the moment.

Hermione did the same.

They were both unaware of any mutual feelings between them, quite certain that the opposite party wasn't very fond of them.

Ron's eyes snapped open when he heard stifled laughter behind him. He turned his head to see Ginny and Harry doubled over in laughter with their hands over their mouths, trying to conceal their amusement. Ron realised that he was still on the couch in the common room. 'No!' he thought. He looked down, and sure enough, Hermione was sleeping in his arms. He turned furiously red and tried his best to move away from Hermione without waking her. He managed to get away. Shaking his head, he walked over to his sister and Harry.

Harry clapped him on the back. "Nice one," he said, grinning.

Ginny giggled. "Quite the couple," she whispered.

Ron smiled wryly. "Thanks," he said sarcastically, "I'm going to go to the lake for a bit."

Ginny shook her head, pointing out the window. There were small flakes of snow falling from the sky. "It's been snowing all night and through the morning," she explained.

Ron glanced at the clock. It was nearly time for breakfast. "Would one of you wake her up?" he asked, disgusted with himself.

Ginny acquiesced and walked over to Hermione. Ron fled to the boys' dormitories to shower and change his clothing.

Ginny shook Hermione lightly. "Hermione, get up," she whispered, trying to push the smile from her face.

Hermione woke with a start. "Wha-"

"You fell asleep on the couch," Harry called from across the room where he was watching the snow fall.

Hermione flushed, remembering how happy she had felt in Ron's arms the night before. "Where's Ron?" she asked.

Ginny shared a look with Harry. "Boys' dormitories. Why?"

Hermione sat up, yawning. "No reason," she said, "I'd better go clean up," she said, heading up to the girls' dormitories.  
Ginny walked over to Harry, grinning. "Where's Ron indeed," she said, and both she and Harry cracked up.

Ron came down at approximately the same time as Hermione, who glanced at him. "Morning," she said.

Ron looked around. Ginny and Harry were nowhere to be seen. "Morning," he replied distantly.

"Um, about last night," Hermione began.

Ron shook his head. "Your welcome," he said, trying to venture as far away from the subject as he could.

Hermione raised and eyebrow. "How do you know I was going to say thank you?"

Ron refused to look at her. "If you weren't, you should have been," he said.

What had happened to the Ron that had held Hermione in his arms so tenderly? "Am I missing something?" Hermione asked, wondering if something had happened that she didn't remember.

"No," Ron said cautiously, "You never did explain why you burst into tears," he said, changing topics rapidly.

Hermione shrugged. "I can't say that I know why. I guess . . . it's just been really hard dealing with all this change, and I'm a bit overwhelmed," she said, using Ron's lie from what seemed like an eternity ago.

Ron was tempted to wrap an arm around her shoulders and tell her it was okay, but he clenched his fists and nodded instead. "It is hard," he agreed.

The portrait swung back to reveal Lavender, Neville, and Seamus about to enter. They spotted Ron and Hermione who were standing side by side and smiled at them.

Ron wondered at their expressions but tried fruitlessly to shrug them off.

Hermione smiled back. "Hi, Neville, Lavender, Seamus," she said, shaking each of their hands separately.

Neville turned to Ron. He was the only one who hadn't smiled at Ron and Hermione smugly. He had never been the type to do something like that. "Have you seen Ginny around?" he asked, looking a bit afraid of Ron.

Ron noticed Neville's frightened demeanour and grinned. "Great Hall maybe?" he queried.

Neville's face brightened. "Oh, thanks! Is that where you're headed?"

Ron nodded.

"I'll come with you then," Neville said, smiling cheerily.

Hermione, Ron and Neville started off toward the Great Hall leaving Lavender and Seamus to snog in a corner, no doubt; everyone knew they had a thing for each other.

Neville looked rather excited, and Ron had half a mind to tell him to calm down, but chances were that Neville would take it as a sign of aggression and begin to cower in fear; so, Ron laid off and dealt with the joyful smile of his friend as best he could.

Neville glanced over at him. "Who're you going to the ball with, Ron?" he asked timidly.

"Cho," Ron answered, staring straight ahead.

"Hermione?" Neville asked, and Ron almost thought he was asking why he wasn't going with Hermione. Of course, it was just in his mind; Neville was merely asking who Hermione was going with.

"Draco," Hermione replied, looking over at Neville.

"M-Malfoy?" Neville stuttered.

Hermione nodded.

Neville's eyes widened. "Wow. I never would have thought . . ."

Ron glanced at Hermione to see her expression, but her face was straight and revealed nothing. "Well, things are changing; right, Ron?" she asked.

Ron looked at Neville who had a very curious countenance. "Oh, right," Ron said.

The trio reached the Great hall, and sure enough, Ginny and Harry were sitting at the Gryffindor table, laughing about something only Ron could place.

"Hey, you two," Ron said, ruffling Ginny's hair as he passed her to sit on the left of Harry.

Ginny blushed, trying to get her hair back in place. "Hi, Ronald," she growled, glaring at her older brother. Neville sat down by her, and she grinned at him, making him feel incredibly awkward.

Everyone ate their meals, and the group was pondering what to do on this fine day when Luna walked over to them, putting her hands on Harry's shoulders. "Who's up for a snowball fight?" she asked.

Everyone instantly agreed. No one is ever too old for a whole-hearted snowball fight.

"We need our winter robes," Neville pointed out.

The group instantly agreed again. It was decided that they would meet at the tree Ginny, Luna, and Harry had hung out at yesterday. Ginny and Harry would lead the other Gryffindors there, and Luna would meet up with them.


	22. Snowball Fight

**22**

Snowball Fight

Luna was waiting for the Gryffindors as they trekked towards the tree, most of them wearing thick winter robes. She waved to them, laughing as she spotted Neville, who hadn't been able to find his robes and had been forced to borrow Seamus's "authentic, muggle, winter coat". It was puffy and red, reminding everyone of a marshmallow with food colouring in it.

"Teams!" Ginny exclaimed, "Who're are the team captains going to be?"

Everyone immediately picked Harry, which wasn't a surprise, and by popular vote, Ron was selected as the opposing captain.  
"Does anyone have a coin?" Luna asked. No one did. "Well, then Ron will pick first since he was voted into captainship," Luna continued.

"That doesn't make any sense! Harry was voted captain too!" Hermione said.

Everyone groaned.

Harry shrugged. "Just let Ron pick first."

Ron beamed and chose Luna, which was shocking; he had never seemed to like her all that much. "I heard she's a wicked hand at throwing things," he reasoned.

Harry chose Hermione since she was one of his best friends. Ron chose Neville, just because he didn't want to have his sister on his team, and Harry chose the last person, Ginny.

"Excellent!" Luna piped up, "I love it when couples split during battle and oppose each other!"

"Guess that's an indication of how the marriage'll be, eh Harry?" Ron jibed, nudging Harry, who was standing next to him.

Harry elbowed him hard. "I suppose it's always that way with you and Hermione," he whispered back.

Ron glared at him, though it dawned on him that Luna had probably meant all of the people on the teams. She, of course, had not heard anything about anything.

"We need rules of course," Hermione pointed out logically.

"Why?" Luna asked.

"Well, we did split up into teams, didn't we?"

Luna nodded. "So?"

Hermione sighed. "Fine. I suppose we don't need rules then. We'll just aimlessly throw snowballs at one another until everyone is wet, cold, and exhausted."

"Duh," Ron said, and Hermione shot him a glare.

So, the games began. Hermione launched many good shots at Ron, hitting him square in the face several times, much to her pleasure. In turn, Ron tried to hit Hermione, but in the end only got her once in the stomach.

Neville, attempting to get Ginny to throw something at him by hitting her, accidentally hit Luna, who was in the midst of sneaking up on Ginny, in the face. Luna looked at him, eyes ablaze. "Oh, you asked for it, marshmallow boy!" she exclaimed and chased him in circles around the tree, hitting him with every snowball she had.  
Ginny cracked up and collapsed in the snow, causing Harry, who was running after Ron, to trip over her and do a roll on the ground.

Ron bent down to help him up, and Hermione sent a snowball right at him. It hit him in the head, dusting his red hair with snow.

Ginny sprung up, hurrying to make sure that Harry wasn't injured too severely from his fall. "Harry, I'm sorry!" she cried, kneeling next to him

Harry chuckled. "That was a wicked roll, wasn't it?" he asked, and Ginny laughed, overjoyed that Harry was still intact.

Ron smirked at them and aimed an especially large snowball directly at his sister. It hit her square it the chest. "Ron, you beast!" she yelled and ran after him, throwing fistfuls of snow.

Harry and Hermione laughed.

Luna tackled Neville and pinned him to the ground. "No, please don't hit me," Neville pleaded, "I-I'm on your team."

Luna grinned crazily and got off the panicky boy. "Bad aim," she commented.

Neville nodded shakily.

Luna shoved him jokingly. "Don't let it happen again, or I'll turn you into a leaf!" she threatened.

Neville whimpered and hurried to seat himself next to Harry, hoping for some decent protection.

Harry was watching Ginny chase Ron, grinning as she knocked him down and began throwing snow at him as he struggled to get up. He finally managed to stand but collapsed again in exhaustion.

Hermione laughed, plopping down next to Harry. Luna was by the tree, making a snow angel, and Harry turned his attention to her. She stood up to examine her work and smiled happily, clapping for herself.

Ginny and Ron ran by, Ron stumbling and then hurrying to get back up and Ginny cackling as she chased him.

Soon, everyone had collapsed in the snow, and as Hermione had predicted they would be, they were all wet, cold, and exhausted.

Ron dragged himself to where mostly everyone was sitting and laid in the snow, closing his eyes.

"Some fun, eh?" Neville asked.

Harry nodded, and Ron mumbled something that sounded like a yes. Luna waltz over to everyone, seeming to be full of energy despite the fact that she had used a lot of it already. "Oh, don't tell me you five are tired already?" she said, appalled at her friends' lack of oomph.

Harry pulled Luna down in between him and Neville, causing Neville to squeak and scurry away from him. "Luna, why do you have so much energy?" he asked, lying back on the snow sleepily.

"I'm tapping into the force, Harry. I would have thought that you would know that," Luna said.

Hermione looked at Luna in a slightly sceptical manner. Luna had always had "**SEER**" written all over her in capital, bold letters. Perhaps that was why Hermione had never liked her.

Ron sat up and rubbed his nose. "You sure there weren't rocks in those snowballs?" he asked Hermione.

Harry laughed. "Gee, Hermione. Throwing rocks at people is rather cold, don't you think?" he joked.

"Ha ha ha," Hermione said sarcastically, "It's probably from falling on your face so much, Ron."

Ron narrowed his eyes. "I didn't fall on my face," he said, and he hadn't. He had fallen on his stomach.

Hermione rolled her eyes.


	23. Rowing

**23**

Rowing

Harry sensed that there might be another row if he didn't do something so he asked, "Why don't we go inside?" He was talking to just Ron and Hermione, who both shrugged.

The long-term trio stood up, announced their leave, and took off.

Harry made sure to stand in between his friends and started a discussion about what food might be served at the Christmas Eve Dinner.

Harry was shocked when even that small, meaningless subject made Ron and Hermione begin to argue.

"I bet they'll be serving pot roast," Ron said almost dreamily.

"I doubt it. They usually serve some sort of pork dish at Christmas," Hermione said matter-of-factly.

Ron glanced at her. "My _mum_ doesn't cook pork at Christmas," he said.

"But the poor, enslaved house-elves do," Hermione said, "I read it in _Hogwarts, A History_."

Ron rolled his eyes, quietly mocking her under his breath. "I read it in blah nah fa nah nah nah."

"What was that, Ronald? Did you say you read something? I was unaware that you even knew _how_ to read," Hermione hissed, peering around Harry at Ron.

Harry looked up at the ceiling in exasperation. "Did you guys see how far I rolled when I tripped?" he asked, hoping that focusing attention on himself would keep his friends from fighting for at least a few minutes.

"Yeah!" Ron exclaimed, "That was wicked awesome!"

Hermione crossed her arms. "That was very dangerous, though I know you couldn't help it, but honestly, you should try to be more careful."

"By that," Ron said contemptuously, "she means put yourself in a spell-proof bubble and lock yourself in the highest tower of a dragon-guarded castle."

Hermione shook her head. "Just because _you_ want to get killed or otherwise, doesn't mean Harry has to do things that might bind him to the same idiotic fate," she retorted.

Harry resisted the urge to hit something and took a deep breath. "What colour robes do you think Luna's going to wear?" he asked.

"Yellow," Ron said.

"Yellow?" Hermione questioned, "Blondes don't wear yellow. It's not in their colour-"

"Would you two stop arguing for just _five minutes_?" Harry asked, raising his voice nearly to a yell.

Hermione glanced at Harry in trepidation.

Ron glared at Hermione. 'See what you did, Hermione?' he thought, making the connection, 'You made Harry angry.'

'_I_ made Harry angry? _You_ were the one that had to "explain" what I meant by "You should try to be more careful.".'

Ron stifled a sardonic laugh. 'Who was the one that had to say that I couldn't read?'

'You were mocking me!'

Ron realised that this was true. 'Well, you just _had_ to bring up _spew_!'

'I did no such thing! I mentioned the house-elves, but we were talking about ham!'

'Correction: You mentioned the _poor_, _enslaved_ house-elves.'

Hermione glanced around Harry at Ron, glaring at him. 'At least I have an emotional depth that's deeper than that of a grain of sand.'

'Grains of sand don't have emotional depth!'

'And neither-do-you!' Hermione stated, emphasising each word in her mind.

'For your information, Miss Granger, I _do_ have feelings about some things. I just prefer not to share those feelings with people like you, who obviously couldn't care less!'

Hermione made a noise of disparaging laughter. 'It's not like you care about _my_ feelings, so why should I care at all about _yours_?'

Ron bit his lip, wishing that Hermione knew things that he knew she could never know. 'Don't try and pin your lack of compassion for others on me!'

'Don't try to make me feel guilty for not caring how you feel!'

'Don't-'

"Wow, you two are quiet," Harry said, sounding impressed.

"Well, you know," Ron said, "you did tell us to stop fighting for five minutes. I think it's been that long."

"Probably," Harry said. He spotted someone coming towards them in the distance. As they neared each other, Harry realised that it was Draco.

Draco stopped in front of them, and Ron tensed noticeably.

"Hermione, where have you been? I've been worried to the point of losing my hair!"

Hermione glanced at Ron and Harry guiltily. "I'll see you two later," she said, linked her arm with Draco's and hurried in the direction from which they had come.

Ron shook his head. "Shoved to the side by a retarded ferret," he muttered, "It's pitiful, Harry. Truly."

Harry nodded.


	24. Graduation Ball

**24**

The Graduation Ball

The day was spent making preparations for the Graduation Ball. Hermione came back to Gryffindor Tower around midday to begin charming her hair into staying straight.

Around six o' clock, all of the students made their way to the Great Hall for dinner. Most everyone was in his or her dress robes, save for Neville, who feared that he would spill something on himself during the meal. Hermione was nowhere to be seen.

Ron glared at the table as ham appeared on the meat platters. Harry was beaming. He had spotted Luna in robes of bright red swirled with turquoise, and he had thought she looked absolutely beautiful.

The meal was soon over, and the people who hadn't yet changed hurried back to their individual dormitories to do so.

Dumbledore waved his wand and cleared all of the tables but one, which was immediately filled with refreshments, out of the Great Hall.

The students returned, and everyone began to pair up. Ron soon found Cho, dressed in robes of deep purple. He led her to a chair, and they sat.

Unlike at the Yule Ball, the Weird Sisters weren't playing. Instead, there was a small group of what looked like leprechauns tooting and hooting on small, flute-like instruments and teensy bagpipes. There was a woman in shocking, orange clothing singing.

Cho looked at Ron who was staring at random couples on the dance floor. "Do you want to dance?" she asked.

Ron glanced at her. Why not? Why should this time be just like the Yule Ball? He could enjoy this ball if he tried. "Sure," he said.

Cho stood up, and they began dancing. Suddenly, people stopped their movement and whispers began to erupt throughout the room.

Two people had just entered the room, arm in arm. Ron felt his stomach lurch and looked at Cho.

Cho looked at him. "Hermione and Draco?" she asked.

Ron nodded.

Everyone began dancing again, though a few couples continued to stare. Ron, however, refused to look. He focused on Cho who was dancing in perfect time to the music. "You know," she said, grinning, "I bet he doesn't even like her."

Ron nodded. "I know. She's _always_ had this tendency to fraternise with the enemy, though," he said.

Cho nodded. "Cedric never liked Draco. He would have been very upset if I had gotten together with him."

"Hermione doesn't care what other people think. She has no compassion."

"Oh. Cedric had a lot of compassion. He was always so sweet."

Ron smiled. He and Cho seemed to be getting along pretty well, though they were obsessing over people that they loved or had once loved.

Across the room, Harry and Luna sat silently.

"Are you sure you don't want to dance?" Harry asked.

Luna nodded. "You can dance with another girl, if you like. Why don't we call Ginny over? I think she'd like to dance with someone that won't crush her feet," she suggested, looking at Ginny, who's eyes were watering from pain.

Harry was about to object, but Luna had already called Ginny.

Ginny came over, pulling Neville by the hand. "Yes?" she asked.

"Wanna dance with Harry?" Luna asked, "I noticed your pain. I'll take care of Neville for you."

Ginny looked at Harry, shrugging. Harry glanced at Luna as if to make sure that she was okay with it. "Go!" she said, grinning.

Neville sat down next to Luna fearfully. "H-hi," he said.

Luna turned to look at him. "Greetings," she said.

"D-do you want to dance?" Neville asked.

"Not really. That's why I sent Harry off with Ginny."

"Oh. Oh, right," Neville said embarrassedly.

"Truth is," Luna said, her eyes becoming wide, "I _can't_ dance."

Neville smiled sheepishly. "Me neither," he admitted.

Luna beamed. "We should _not_ dance then!" she exclaimed, standing and pulling Neville to his feet.

Harry danced with Ginny, glancing at her pale yellow robes. "You look . . . rather fetching," he said quietly.

Ginny blushed. "Thanks," she muttered.

The song ended, and a slow song began playing. "I should be-er-getting back to Luna," Harry said.

Ginny nodded. "Oh, yes. Right."

Harry turned to go back, but Luna was gone.

Ginny looked at him. "She's not there?" she asked.

"She must have gone to dance with someone else . . . Maybe she just didn't want to dance with me," he said.

Ginny shook her head. "I doubt that." Someone waltzed right into her, pushing her forward. She fell into Harry's arms. She looked up at him, turning a deep shade of pink.

"W-we could dance," Harry said, "i-if you want, that is."

Ginny nodded, and she and Harry began slow dancing. She could feel his heart beating, and the rate of her own quickened. This was what she had wanted. Why had Luna just given to her?

Luna was nearby, attempting to _not_ slow dance with Neville.

"I-I should be dancing with Ginny," Neville said.

Luna looked through a gap in between two couples and grinned, spotting Harry and Ginny. "I don't think she minds your absence," she said, turning Neville so he could see.

"Oh . . . Why did you . . ."

"Let her have him?" Luna asked, accidentally tromping on Neville's toe.

Neville nodded.

"Because neither of us can dance."

Ron and Cho had sat down during the slow song, not feeling as though it would be kosher for them to dance during it since they were both obviously in love with other people.

"Do you want to go for a walk?"

Cho shivered. "It must be freezing out there, you know," she pointed out.

"Oh, right."

"I do declare, Hermione is dancing _awfully_ close to Draco," Cho said as she looked up.

Ron glanced up and saw that this was true. "She's intent on making my life miserable. I mean, why can't she pick someone _decent_ for once!"

"Oh, yes. That Viktor Krum that she went to the Yule Ball with. He was positively _repulsive_! He couldn't even say her name right!"

Ron grinned. "I know. 'Herm-own-ninny'," he mocked.

Cho laughed. She spotted Lavender talking to Hermione. The former pointed discreetly at her and Ron.

"I think Lavender might have overheard," she said.

Ron was still laughing. "So?"

"Well, she's telling Hermione, I believe."

Ron shrugged. "Oh well."

Cho grinned.

Hermione came over, glaring at Ron. "Ronald, if you have something to say, I would appreciate it if you would say it to my face and not insist on telling _her_," she pointed a shaking finger at Cho, "what you don't like about me."

Cho pushed Hermione's finger out of her face. "Excuse me, but I think Ron has a right to tell me _whatever_ he pleases. I _am_ his date, after all."

Ron stared at Hermione indifferently. "Cho's very right."

Draco came up behind Hermione. "Weasel, do try to act like you aren't lower class. Come on, Hermione. Just ignore him."

Draco turned Hermione around, but not before she had given Ron the coldest look he had ever received.

Cho put a delicate hand on Ron's shoulder. "It's all right. I'm sure she will get over it soon."

Ron glanced at Hermione who was ranting to Draco, shaking from fury. "I don't know," he said.

"How about we do take a short walk outside?" Cho offered hopefully.

Ron nodded. "All right."

The Graduation Ball seemed to go by quickly after that. Harry ended up dancing with Ginny practically the entire night, while Luna and Neville _didn't_ dance.

Everyone was dismissed around ten o'clock and returned to their respective houses.

Hermione hurried up to the girls' dormitories immediately upon getting back, pushing past Ron as the mass of Gryffindors squeezed through the portrait hole. Ginny and Harry were talking merrily as they entered and didn't notice the depression that had surmounted Ron completely as he said goodnight and headed up to the boys' dormitories.


	25. Chapter 21 Dreams

**25**

Chapter 21-Dreams

Ron awoke with a start and looked around. It was dark, so it must have been either late or early. He got up, knowing what he was going to do and that he shouldn't be doing it. He padded down the stairs that led up to the boys' dormitories.

He reached the common room and stopped in front of the stairway that led to the girls' dormitories.

He took a deep breath and started up the stairs. He reached the girls' sleeping quarters fairly quickly and took a brief look about the room. He saw Hermione sleeping in one. It had to be her.

She had kicked the covers down to the foot of the bed, and her nightgown was hiked up above her hips. Ron took a sharp breath as he studied her curves. The moonlight shone in through the window and illuminated the quiet surroundings.

Ron took a reluctant step forward. If he was going to do it, he might as well do it now. His feet carried him to Hermione's bedside. He looked down at her and smiled. Her hair was spread out on the pillows and her face was passive in her slumber.

He leaned down and kissed her. Just one kiss was all he wanted, just so he would know what it was like to have his lips pressed against hers. He didn't need her to kiss back, just to know what it was like.

He tried to pull away, but Hermione's arms suddenly wrapped around him, pulling him closer to her. He didn't resist. She probably thought he was Malfoy, but he didn't care. She was here, with him, kissing him as though she meant it.

Hermione opened her eyes, but she was not surprised or disappointed. She pulled away slowly. "Ron," she said, her voice a whisper.

Though she could not see it in the dark, she knew Ron was turning red.

"Hermione," he said, "I-"

Hermione silenced him with a kiss more passionate than the first. Ron wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her slightly. He was living a dream. Never had he thought that Hermione would kiss him back, let alone kiss him again after the first had ended.

Hermione was living a dream of her own as she clung to Ron in the moonlight. She had hoped that Ron was the boy who had snuck into the dorms to steal a kiss, and indeed, it was him.

Ron pulled away and looked into Hermione's eyes as well as he could in the darkness of their surroundings. "I thought you and Malfoy-" he began before Hermione cut him off.

"Ron, Draco never meant as much to me as you do."

"But why did you go to the Graduation Ball with him? I-I saw you kiss him."

"I don't know why I kissed him. He was there, and he was willing to love me when you weren't."

"I was always willing to love you. I didn't know that you felt the same."

"How could you not tell?" Hermione cried.

"All that matters is that you are here now, and I love you."

Hermione kissed Ron again, and pulled him onto the bed.

"Ron!" Harry's voice called and Hermione pulled away. "RON!" Harry's voice yelled. "RO-ON!" Harry yelled again.

Hermione's faced blurred and then faded into black. The pillows surrounding her did the same.

Ron grimaced at the bright light that shone into his eyes. He put his arm over them to keep it out. When he took his arm away, the light wasn't as bad, and he could see again. Harry was standing at the foot of the bed. The light of dawn flowed into the room and washed over everything.

"Happy Christmas!" Harry exclaimed, tossing a present to Ron.

Ron groaned. "What time is it?" he asked.

" 'Round eight," Harry answered, walking back to his four poster to open the his presents, "I half expected you to wake me up at six like you do every Christmas, but you were sleeping like a rock."

"Yeah," Ron replied. He opened the present in his lap to find it was another sweater and a box of fudge from his mother. "Harry, I need to tell you about this dream I had," he said after pulling on the large sweater.

Harry looked up from the gigantic textbook on Quidditch tactics that Hermione had given him. "All right," he answered, closing the book.

Ron sat up and took a deep breath before beginning the tale. "I woke up, in my dream, and it was really dark, so I walked down to the common room, and I-"

"Happy Christmas, Harry!" Hermione called from the doorway she had suddenly appeared in. She had not forgotten Ron's actions the night before.

"Happy Christmas!" Harry replied.

Ron looked down and pretended to be very interested in the wrapping paper he had torn from his gifts. He knew Hermione was angry with him. His actions at the ball had been uncalled for.

Hermione walked over to him and set a present down on his bed. He looked up, surprised. Then, he remembered that he had given her a gift, but he couldn't place what it was. He stared at the present.

"You can open it, you know," Harry said.

Ron looked up to find that Hermione had gone away. He carefully tore the green, red, and gold wrapping paper from the gift. "Great," he said, "Another book that I don't want to read." He read the cover. _Verotis, The Power of the Mind_. There was a piece of parchment sticking out of the book, and Ron turned to the page it was marking. There was a note scribbled on the parchment.

_I know what you did last night. Is it true?_

Ron stared at the words. "What the . . ." He looked at the page. It was the beginning of a chapter. _Chapter 21: Dreams_.

Ron gaped. He opened and closed his mouth several times.

Harry looked at him. "Ron?"

Ron put the book on his bed and hurried to put on his clothes and clean up. He sprinted out of the dormitories, down the stairs, and into the common room.

Hermione was sitting in a chair, skimming through a book. She glanced up and saw Ron walking towards her, holding a small piece of parchment. She knew exactly what it said and flushed.

Ron sat down on the sofa. "You-Do you really-How did you-"

Hermione closed her book and looked at Ron. "Is it true?"

"I should be asking you the same question," Ron said.

"I asked you first," Hermione said. Her heart was beating faster and faster every second.

Ron turned red. "I-Y-yes."

Hermione's eyes widened. She stared at Ron. There was nothing else she could do. Heck, she could barely breathe. "I never expected . . ."

"Is what you said true?" Ron asked.

Hermione bit her lip. She nodded, turning red, too.

"But-but how?" Ron stuttered.

"How?"

"How could you go with him and then . . ."

"I didn't think you felt . . . I didn't know," Hermione said, feeling tears well up in her eyes. All this time she had been denying her feelings when what she should have done was admit them.

"Don't cry," Ron said, grabbing Hermione's hand, "I didn't know either."

Hermione felts tears run down her cheeks. "I know . . . It's not that . . . What are we going to do about Draco?"

"Break up with him," Ron said simply.

"You say that like it's going to be easy to do. His father practically hates me, and if I break up with him . . . that'll only give him more reason to do something bad to me."

Ron looked thoughtful for a moment. "If we kill him-"

"Ron!"

"Okay, okay. How about we make a deal with him?"

"Make a deal with him?"

"You know, you stay with me, and he gets . . . Cho maybe. Cho was saying that Cedric wouldn't have let her be with Malfoy. Maybe it would help her to get over him. Plus, Cho's a pretty girl. Malfoy cares about that type of thing."

Hermione thought about this. "That's a really good idea," she murmured, "I wouldn't have thought that . . ."

"I would come up with something like that?" Ron asked, "I know. It's odd, but as I said, things are changing . . ."

Hermione looked at him, smiling almost longingly. Ron turned red and leaned forward. His lips met Hermione's and he felt himself being swept away by happiness. He didn't want to pull away, but the laughter behind him wasn't something he could ignore. He turned angrily. "Would you two shut up?" he asked, glaring at Harry and Ginny, who had come down and seen the couple sharing what they thought was a first kiss, "Snog each other, for all I care. Just leave us alone!"

Harry looked at Ginny in surprise, as if the thought had never occurred to him. Ginny turned red. "I like you a lot, Harry," she muttered, looking at her feet.

Harry smiled and tilted Ginny's chin upward. "You know what? I just realised that I like you a lot too," he said.

Harry gave Ginny a quick peck on the lips, but even that was enough to make Ron want to vomit. "Good lord!" He grabbed Hermione's hand, "Let's get out of here," he said, pulling Hermione out of the common room and into the corridor. They stopped and Ron gave her another kiss, not noticing the extremely pale boy coming up towards the portrait hole.

"Weasley?" Draco asked incredulously, though how he could mistake the red hair for anyone else's was a mystery, "What _are_ you doing?" He didn't seem mad. In fact, he seemed more amused than anything else.

"Malfoy, I can't deny my feelings any-" Ron began.

Draco waved his comment away. "Save it. I was coming up here to break up with Granger anyway," he said.

"What?" Hermione asked.

"It wasn't meant to be," Draco said simply, "Your kiss wasn't right. I could tell you were thinking about someone else. I only went to the ball with you after that because I couldn't stand another night of Pansy hoping that I would kiss her." He shuddered.

Hermione glanced at Ron to see what his reaction was to the "her kissing Draco" part, but it seemed no surprise to him. She remembered the dream and what he had said, so it made sense. "So, _Malfoy_," she said, putting her hands on her hips, "Enemies again?" She held out one hand for Draco to shake.

Draco smirked. "Granger, after today, we couldn't be anything else," he said, shaking her hand. He yanked it away quickly, "I've got to wash this hand before your mudblood germs spread," he said and dashed off toward the dungeons.

Hermione turned to Ron. "How did you know that we kissed?" she asked.

"Well . . . I sort of followed you and Malfoy to the courtyard-"

"So there _was_ someone watching us!"

Ron nodded, turning red. "God, Hermione. I love you so much," he said and pulled her into another kiss.

"Ron, if I loved you any more than I do, nothing would ever make sense to me."

"Well, that would be a shame. Harry and I need someone to knock some sense into us every now and then."

"Speaking of that, are you going to read the book I bought you?"

Ron looked reluctant. "Well . . . I thought about it . . . but . . . maybe I should stick to "Dick and Jane" books instead."

Hermione laughed. "They are so much simpler," she said, "Oh, by the way, I loved the bookmark. It was very nice. How did you know I liked orchids?"

"I . . . didn't," Ron said. So _that_ was what he had gotten her. He didn't remember it at all, "I really had no clue."

Hermione grabbed both his hands. "You must be very acute subconsciously," she said and stood on her tiptoes to kiss him again. Ron kissed her back, finding this to be much more exciting than a dream.

"You know, I do wonder what happened to Harry and Luna. How will she react when she finds out about Ginny?"

The portrait hole burst open, and Neville tripped out of it. A letter flew out of his hand and Ron picked it up. "Dear Neville," he read, "I enjoyed _not_ dancing with you last night. Would you like to take lessons from Professor Trelawney with me? I would very much enjoy it. She's teaching them at nine o' clock, Christmas Day. Hope to see you there," he glanced at Hermione, "Luna Lovedgood."

Hermione grinned, and Neville looked at them merrily. "We don't know how to dance!" he exclaimed and continued running toward Professor Trelawney's Room.

"I guess everyone found someone," Ron said, smiling, "What a great Christmas."

Hermione nodded and leaned against Ron. Things had never seemed so clear to her, yet everything was still as clear as mud.

**A/N: Well? What do you think? Did I screw up? Sorry if I did. I was thinking about posting a sequel . . . Shall I? Hey! Now I can work on The Little White Room for those of you who actually liked it! Please review and post whatever comments you have.**


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